My boss, bibliophile par excellence, runs a used book store (as would be fitting). This profession occasionally takes him on perilous journeys, as it did last year.
At an estate sale in Syracuse, NY, he saw a box (only just opened for the occasion!) of the entire 20-something set with no price tag. He asked the person running the sale (there's got to be a word for this!) how much, and she yawned and said, "oh, 20 bucks, if you can carry it out of here."
Well, carry it out he did, across a two-lane road to his car. He was nearly hit by a passing truck, and avoided injury to his own self by stepping back just enough so as to lose his balance and send the OED box over onto its side. Some volumes ended up damaged. We now have the entire set at the store for display purposes/our own use.
[/digression]
