There were scenes akin to the January sales in the exam hall in TCD last week as the annual book sale got under way. Every year a queue stretches across Front Square before the sale opens, when normally mild-mannered bookworms jostle for position for the pick of the harvest. The books are donated by Friends of Trinity around the country and the proceeds go to the college's libraries.

Under the gaze of Edmund Burke and Jonathan Swift, volunteers set up stalls holding books under categories as diverse as DIY and the Greek classics. Within 90 minutes of opening, many of the stalls had been stripped bare. Husband and wife teams moved around the room with military discipline, one carrying a cardboard box, the other frantically filleting the books on display. Others avoided the rat race by choosing a book and retiring to a more sedate corner of the room to sip complimentary glasses of wine.

The first evening of the sale, which stretches over three days, featured an auction offering a Seamus Heaney first edition and Victorian children's books. By the end of the day, the book sale had raised £12,000 for Trinity's libraries and by the end of the three days, the figure was approaching £20,000.

Eleanor Hanley of the Book Sale Committee said they were delighted with the success of this year's sale, but are already planning "something special" for the 10th anniversary sale next year.