The logistics are mind-blowing. And while it's a book fair, it's as much about numbers as it is about books.
Picture two cool stores with the proportions of a football field - possibly 100 metres long and a combined 70 metres wide. There are 36 rows of trestle tables in one and probably as many in the other.
They're awash with hardback and softback books, magazines, vinyl records, CDs and jigsaws – many tens of thousands of them.
'Who knows how many?” says the Rotary Club of Tauranga's Ann Pritchard. It's the Rotary club's 31st annual book fair, and Ann's 14th.
'Everytime we have a sale I think that must be it,” says Ann. 'We must have cleaned the city out this time.”
But no, the books continue to flood in from collection depots around Tauranga – up to ten pallets at a time, two or three times a week. And the Rotarians go to work, spending three or four hours a day processing, pricing and placing.
Where does a book called ‘Music and Silence' go? Ann confirms it's an historical novel and should not end up on the music table. There are books about world affairs, history and religion. There are more books about crafts, food and science fiction.
Others cover gardening, self-help, and there are biographies and autobiographies and even more about business computing. Maori has its own trestle table, and that's before you get to the magazines, records and CDs.
When one Rotary of Tauranga book fair finishes, another is starting. There is a container, 'and we will start filling it immediately after this year's sale ends,” says Ann.
She's a reader who devours a book or more a week, with a preference for non-fiction. 'Lee Child was the most popular author at last year's sale and I wondered what this Lee Child was all about. I read one and that was enough.”
It wasn't Ann's cup of tea, but she can't argue his popularity. There'll be hundreds of Jack Reacher tales at the fair, and probably hundreds more by the clever, witty and entertaining Bill Bryson.
Ann produces a couple of very special books that have come to light this year. One is ‘The Oxford Annual for Scouts' – an anthology of stories including ‘Smokey's Treasure', ‘Some Hints for Handymen', ‘Lead by the Nose' and a raft of interesting lithographs.
On the leaf is a hand-written notation: Louis Richards, Thorndon Road, Cambridge and the date 12/27/1927 – presumably the original owner. The book's 90-years-old and in perfect condition. It has a reserve of $70 and will go into a silent auction.
There's another fascinating publication – ‘Collins New World Atlas'. It's inscribed H.M.Rellimore, Bank of NZ, Sydney, 1933. Not something you would thumb through on the pillow and probably no longer an accurate reference book, but certainly an interesting book to own and show. That too will go to tender on the specials table.
By the time the Rotary Club of Tauranga book fair opens at 9am on Saturday, March 31, book enthusiasts will have been queuing in the dark for three hours. 'Oh Lord, yes” says Ann. What's that about early birds and worms and books?
What you see on the trestle tables now will have, until recently, been stored in boxes and cartons in cellars and garages and under stairs around Tauranga.
'They will have belonged to people who have moved into retirement homes or have passed away,” says Ann. 'Or people who have run out of space and are cleaning out. We are doing people a service and doing the books a service, because it means they continue to be read.”
And the books keep coming back. 'We know that because we often spot the little identifying stickers we put on them for the previous sale.” Or the one before that.
The Rotary Club of Tauranga book fair is at the Seeka Coolstore on Harvard Way, opposite Classic Flyers at the airport. It's open from 9am on Saturday, Sunday and Monday of Easter Weekend.