Book and curiosity auction at the Portico

The Portico, Manchester’s historic members library on Mosely Street, is having a car-boot sale, of sorts. Tonight the library, dating back to 1806, will host an auction to sell off duplicate books from its collection. The event marks the end of the Portico’s Dickens Bicentenary exhibition, with a trove of artefacts and exhibits from that display also going under the hammer. Entry is £3.50 and is open to everybody – not just library members – with funds going towards supporting the library’s Retrospective Catalogue Project and book restoration. Prices are expected to range from around £5 for a vintage toby jug, with other items up for grabs such as jigsaws, games, stamps and figures as well as a lovely set of mirror tiles with illustrations by George Cruikshank from Dickens’ classics like Oliver Twist and David Copperfield.

Mon 6 Aug, The Portico Library, 57 Mosley Street, M2 3HY, Tel: 0161 236 6785, 6pm, £3.50 entry (including wine), www.theportico.org.uk