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Best used and specialty bookstores

By david_yamada on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 1:53pm

A Globe gallery feature on the best used and specialty bookstores:
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/gallery/usedbooksto...

My vote for best used bookstore goes to the Brattle Book Shop on West Street. The outdoor carts have great $1-$3-$5 bargains, and with an excellent selection inside. I have taken out-of-town visitors there and they have raved about it too.

Although Boston & Cambridge have lost a number of their bookstores over the years, this remains a great place for book lovers.

Neighborhoods: 
Boston
Free tagging: 
bookstores


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Comments

By Suldog on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 4:38pm.

This past weekend, I was in Portsmouth, NH, with my brother-in-law. We saw a store on Route 1, sign outside said "Old Books". Cool. We decided to stop and browse, probably buy.

We got out of my car and saw a sign on the front door. It read:

"This is a limited access store. $5 fee for browsing. Refunded on purchase of $25 or more."

That was enough to turn me away immediately, but my bro-in-law decided to go in and see if it was for real. MY WIFE and I waited in the car.

After a minute, we see bro-in-law at the front door, arguing with the proprietor. Understand, bro-in-law is even-keeled to the max; never gets mad at anyone, really. He comes out the door and flips this guy the bird.

He had asked the guy if he indeed wanted $5 just for the opportunity to see his wares. Guys says, "Yes. If you want free reading, there's a library downtown."

Yikes. Nice way to run a business. We tried to dope it out for the remainder of the weekend. Was the store a front for something else? Did he sell porno and was he plagued with guys who came in only to look? Was he just plain off his nut? No definite answers were decided upon.

So, if you find yourself craving a used book while on Route 1 in Portsmouth, be forewarned :-)

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

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By ShadyMilkMan on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 4:43pm.

Thats insane, it must be a porno store or something. In the middle of Manhattan or maybe in Cambridge near the colleges in a high traffic area I could possibly understand how a 5 dollar fee could work assuming the place was nice inside and had decent furniture and a good atmosphere etc. Kind of like an elite bookstore club, but seriously that far away from the city there is no way he could possibly maintain his business by charging people 5 dollars to enter a USED book store!

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By Ron Newman on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 4:51pm.

and is it in downtown Portsmouth, or somewhere to the south?

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By david_yamada on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 4:55pm.

...to visit his website?!

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By Suldog on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 5:03pm.

The only sign outside said "Old Books". I would love to see if there is a website connected with it, but we left in such a huff, we didn't stop to see if there was a website advertised anywhere on the sign or elsewhere on the property.

If you're familiar with Portsmouth, pretend you're driving on Route 1 towards Boston; that is, away from Downtown Portsmouth. The store is located on your right, in the general area of the Wal-Mart and the Circle K gas station/convenience store, a bit before the hotel named The Wren's Nest. I wish I could be more specific, but it IS the only used bookstore in that general half-mile or so of road.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

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By Ron Newman on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 5:09pm.

If I enter Books, Portsmouth NH into Google Maps, these two are in the general area you describe:

C - Antiquarian Bookstore
1070 Lafayette Rd, Portsmouth, NH
antiquarianbookstore.com?

D - Jumpgate Science Fiction
2800 Lafayette Rd, Portsmouth, NH 03801
jumpgatelink.com

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By bandit on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 5:29pm.

mostly based on this article.

seems his browsing fee isn't the only thing that's shady!

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By Sock_Puppet on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 5:39pm.

On April 27, 1995, Dale Shaw of Rye went to the store and after being told there was a $5 fee to browse, an argument ensued, according to court records. A court affidavit said Wakefield called the customer a (expletive) retard," before hitting him with a metal pipe, scraping and bruising his arm.

Yeah, I'm betting he sells a lot of books that way.

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By Kaz on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 5:44pm.

sorry, adam

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By Kaz on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 5:43pm.

Compare:

From his website...

Bram Stoker: DRACULA

New York, 1932. Hardcover. New York : (1932). 1st Modern Library Edition, so stated by the publisher. FINE condition, no dj. Original dark green & gilt cloth binding. Small neat rubberstamp "Retailed by Macy's" on title page. Rare.

$2,500.

versus

$49.95 with the dust jacket on eBay

LOL.

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By david_yamada on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 5:50pm.

...is cracking me up.

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By Suldog on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 11:44am.

Thanks for all of the additional info, folks!

Yes, Antiquarian is the one. I'm sending the link to the article to my brother-in-law. I'm sure he'll get a laugh.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

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By Michelle on Mon, 10/01/2012 - 6:08pm.

Yes! I stopped there today and the guy charged me $5 to "look". I paid the fee and entered to discover anyone over 100 pounds can not possibly squeeze down any of the aisles! Clearly the owner... Mr Personality... must hire a small child to squeeze between the stacks to retrieve the books, that is assuming he even knows what the titles are and where they might be located.

The final straw for me was when I asked the price of a book upon leaving. It was in a stack by the entrance and the guy told me he would not tell me the price unless I agreed to buy it sight unseen! Can you believe that? I never leave a bookstore empty handed ever! This guy does NOT want to sell his books! I can absolutely believe that he slugged a potential customer. In fact, I totally expected to see the dead body of a previous store visitor behind a stack!

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By Kaz on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 6:51pm.

Back to the original point of the link, I just wanted to comment that the few times I've been to Lorem Ipsum in Inman Square, I've found what I've wanted (and some of what I didn't know I'd want) and been very happy with the helpful staff and wide selection. I haven't ever turned anything over to them for store credit, but I have heard they're very fair about it.

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By ZedThou on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 9:40pm.

Maybe I just haven't been paying attention, but suddenly I noticed today a used bookstore is about to open on Centre St in West Roxbury, next to Thai Spice.

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By adamg on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 9:44pm.

Bulletin article.

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By david_yamada on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 10:35pm.

I do miss what Harvard Square had to offer, not too long ago. Every once in a while I'd treat myself to a bookstore run, going to Wordsworth, McIntyre & Moore, Harvard Bookstore, and the Coop, and maybe a few others. I rarely returned home with less than a half dozen books.

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By ShadyMilkMan on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 7:15am.

You should check out Raven Used Books on JFK, pretty cool place, its won all sorts of awards.

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By david_yamada on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 9:30am.

Thanks for suggesting that. It was part of the Globe feature too. I checked out their website and realize I've been waaay tardy in paying a visit.

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By karenz on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 3:24am.

Grolier Poetry Bookshop in Harvard Square

MIT Press Bookstore in Kendall Square

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By david_yamada on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 11:04am.

Kate's Mystery bookstore (http://www.katesmysterybooks.com/) is among the stores in the Globe feature. I've been there only a couple of times, but as someone who enjoys mysteries I should pay more visits.

And the Globe Corner Bookstore (http://www.globecorner.com/) moved over to Mt. Auburn at Harvard Square. Great travel books, even if fewer of us are taking exotic trips these days...

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By ShadyMilkMan on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 11:22am.

I think for all the talk about book stores not being around anymore Boston/Cambridge still seems to have some vibrant stores. The specialty stores are doing much better then the large chains or large idependents because its much harder for Amazon to cut them down due to the special nature of what they do. People need to go in and touch and feel these books, and online reviews for the titles are almost impossible to find. It also helps that many of these specialty stores have committed staff people that not only know where the books are but can act as guides as they are experts in the books they sell.

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By neilv on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 11:42am.

The Lorem Ipsum in Inman Square is both a used bookstore in the best tradition, and they also sell online.

I believe they have developed sophisticated software that is used by some other stores and a nonprofit to help manage the inventory and acquisitions and to sell on certain popular Web sites in parallel.

(Disclosure: I know the people who run Lorem Ipsum.)

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By karenz on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 1:22pm.

So cool!

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By karenz on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 1:21pm.

Has anyone been to the New England Mobile Book Fair? I read about them in the book A Perfect Mess and always wanted to check them out.

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