Scottish Poetry Library Book Sale

Earlier this week, I managed to make a quick trip to the Scottish Poetry Library. I had a couple of books I needed to return. On my arrival, I discovered they were having a book sale, boxes packed with books, many of them costing only 50p. I could have gone away with scores more volumes, had my own finances been in a healthier state, but I exercised a degree of self-control. Here’s what I did buy:

The Dyer’s Hand and Other Essays – W.H. Auden (1st edition hardback, Random House 1962)
The Triumph of Love – Geoffrey Hill (Penguin 1998)
Collected Poems – Les Murray (Carcanet 1998)
Lord Weary’s Castle & The Mills of the Kavanaughs – Robert Lowell (Meridian 1961)
The Dolphin – Robert Lowell (Faber hardback, 1973)
Last Poems – James Schuyler (Slow Dancer 1999), with afterword by Lee Harwood
The Good Neighbour – John Burnside (Cape 2005)

All that cost £11 (and the Auden itself was £5 of it). I see the SPL are going to be clearing away the sale ‘next week’. When next week, I’m not sure, but I’d advise poetry readers anywhere near Edinburgh to get down there as soon as possible (the library is closed on Monday, mind you). I even spotted a hardback copy of The Opposite of Cabbage in the sale – for £5!