The Friends of the Library Used Bookstore at the historic Hyde House at 15 McKown St. opened for the season April 6. The store has been operating since 1961 when a group of volunteers formed the “Friends of the Library” to help support Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library.

At first, the Friends group raised enough money for items including bookcases, a film projector and a television. Starting in 2012, the group has raised $30,000 every year for BHML.

After perusing the hundreds of paperbacks displayed on the porch, I entered the store to see if there was a story to go along with the routine opening. There were no busted pipes from winter or any similar problems, and there had been no celebrity faces, yet. It was very cut-and-dry and that was fine with me.

Winding my way through a couple sections of books which didn’t interest me, I stumbled upon the biographies toward the back of the store. I scored a find not only for myself, but also for my wife which is a good thing considering our fifth anniversary is coming up soon – Hunter Thompson’s "Fear and Loathing in America" and Antonia Fraser’s “Cromwell: The Lord Protector.” I’ll leave it up to you to decide who’s interested in the smut and who’s interested in English history a la perspective féminine.

Then, I had to acknowledge a peculiar feeling in the pit of my stomach telling me, I’ve been here before. Considering I already know I’ve been to the store, it’s funny the things books will do to you.

I pushed that feeling aside and continued looking through the sections, settling on history, picking up a nondescript book of Scotland’s bloody past.

After purchasing the three books – for a total of $3, by the way – I once again examined the paperbacks on my way out and, all at once, that feeling of familiarity hit me again: Three years ago almost exactly, I found myself exiting a hole-in-the-wall bookstore of Camden Market in London – The Blackgull Bookshop and Bindery – carrying new-to-me copies of Thompson’s “The Rum Diary” and Fraser’s”‘Mary Queen of Scots.”

So, the poem on display across from the checkout at the Friends’ bookstore – John Wilson’s ode to secondhand bookstores – seemed all the more appropriate:

“Oh for a book and a shady nook,

either indoor or out;

with the green leaves whispering overhead,

or the street cries all about.

Where I may read all at my ease,

both of the new and old;

for a jolly good book whereon to look,

is better to me than gold.”

The store is open 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Sunday until April 29. From April 30 to Oct. 14, it will be open every day; and from Oct. 19 to Nov. 25, it will be open from Friday to Sunday.