"Nancy Cooper likens opening a box of donated books to Christmas morning; she loves to discover surprises. A life long Villager — and Villager reader — Cooper is an expert in evaluating rare and collectible books. She currently employs her skills at Housing Works Bookstore Café, the non-profit shop whose proceeds help to provide housing, healthcare, job training, and advocacy for New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS (full disclosure: I’m also on staff there). An area under the front counter, labeled “Nancy Books,” is reserved for anything that looks old or unusual enough to require a special look. She instinctively separates the wheat from the chaff, the priceless first edition from the worthless third."

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