On Saturday at noon, after three decades as the driving force behind what has become a Dunedin institution and the country's largest book sale, the Star Regent 24-hour Book Sale, Mr Lovell wound up the frenzied buying for one last time.
In its first year, the fundraiser for the Otago Theatre trust took a week to organise and raised $13,000, Mr Lovell said.
This year's sale took nine months to organise and, combined with the sale of music, raised a record $131,987.
The Dunedin dentist has seen it "grow like topsy", requiring more than 200 volunteers to organise and run it, and attracting books, readers, collectors and dealers from across the country.
The sale was successful because it was so well organised and there was always a good atmosphere.
It now attracted an amazing quality of books, which made it more and more respected.
This year, the estate of an Oamaru historian and teacher had bequeathed his entire book collection to the sale.
That one dealer had spent $3900 on books was also an indication of the interest in the sale.
Mr Lovell will move to Wanaka next year.
He will be back for the book sale, but only as a buyer.
Over the years, he has had the opportunity to grab a few bargains for himself, and had a "pretty decent" collection of books.
This year, he picked up two books, a rare early history of New Zealand gold fields and a cookbook.
"My wife's probably going to kill me for that one, I've got so many."
There was much he would miss about the sale, including the atmosphere among the volunteers.
"I'll miss all the team because it's been a long journey these 30 years.
It's not a one-man band though, it becomes like a family. There's no bad feeling."
He had plenty of things to do to fill the gap organising the book sale would leave.
"I might actually get to read a book this year."
Even before the take had been tallied up, he was confident this year's sale would be the best yet and it was, beating last year 's proceeds by more than $21,000.
People also made separate donations of $1225.
"I think that reflects people's concern about the future of the Regent."
The money will be put towards the development of the Regent Theatre.
