The Rotary Club of Taieri held the sale at the Taieri A&P Showgrounds at the weekend.
Club president Richard Sipthorp said about $7000 was raised, which would be split between Women’s Refuge and Taieri College.
"The book sale was fantastic," Mr Sipthorp said.
Lots of people left with smiles on their faces, having found the book they had been searching for.
That included one young boy who had been hunting through second-hand shops for a while looking for particular rugby books.
"He walked in the door and there on the first table he found all the ones that were missing out of his collection," Mr Sipthorp said.
"He was absolutely rapt."
The club acquired the 12,000 books from the former Scribes Second Hand Books, which closed late last year.
About two-thirds were sold in the sale and the rest were bought by a woman from Owaka.
"She started picking through them and looking over them and said ‘how about I make you an offer for the lot?’
"It’s great when books are constantly being cycled around," Mr Sipthorp said.
