Bookstore launches second Lunar New Year charity drive

A Taipei bookstore is running a program that donates funds from book purchases to a charity for the second year.

"Many people throw away books when they clean up their houses at the end of the lunar year," said Mollie Tai (戴莉芳), owner of Mollie Used Books in Taipei, referring to the tradition of cleaning out one's house ahead of the start of a Lunar New Year.

"But now you can help out a charity when you get rid of these books," she said.

For every book sold to Tai's bookstore, the bookstore will donate NT$1 to the Syin-lu Foundation.

The Syin-lu Foundation is a charity that helps mentally challenged individuals.

This is the second year that the bookstore has worked with the charity, she said.

In addition, an online auction was also launched earlier this month.

Several entertainment celebrities and writers donated autographed books and CDs to be sold at the auction.

All the income from the auction will be donated to the charity.

"We will not take a cent out of the income from the auction," Tai said.

The most valuable auction items are likely to be books donated by the family of late writer and literature critic Tsai Tan-ye (蔡丹冶).

Among the books was a first edition copy of Death of a Stone Cell, published in 1958 and autographed by author Lo Fu (洛夫).

Lo is a highly acclaimed postwar Taiwanese poet.

"These books are rare treasures for book collectors," said Chen Yi-hwa (陳逸華), a graduate student in literature and a book collector.

The book was sold in the online auction for NT$10,600.

"We hope to raise NT$1 million for the charity," Tai said.

Tai welcomed the public to participate in raising funds.

Details can be found at www.mollie.com.tw.