Five great London places to buy a used book

London Free Press Mon, April 28, 2008

BARGAIN READS: Stores contain some real treasures By JOE MATYAS

The Library Store. Friends of the London Public Library sell used books Monday to Saturday in the store at Galleria London, just off the Central Library. Proceeds go to library children's programs. Staffed by volunteers, the store offers titles from the shelves of London libraries and books donated at library branches. Paperbacks cost $1 to $3, hardcovers $3 to $8. There's a wide range of non-fiction and fiction, including kids' books, occasional foreign-language and some large print books. Excellent reference books, sometimes entire encyclopedia sets, also can be found. 251 Dundas St.; 519 433-1495; www.londonpubliclibrary.ca/ node/211

Attic Books. One of Canada's largest antiquarian and second-hand bookstores, it's been a downtown fixture since 1976, when Marvin Post opened a third-floor shop in an old Richmond Street building. Co-owned by Nancy Buckingham, it later moved to Clarence Street and for a decade now has been on Dundas Street, across from the Central Library. Attic buys, sells and appraises quality used books. It holds special appeal for serious readers, fans of local histories and Canadian authors and collectors of rare books and first editions. The store can show a collector a copy of Shakespeare's Tempest, printed in 1690, or sell you a good read for a train trip. Loaded with atmosphere, the store has tin ceilings, hardwood floors and antique collectibles for sale. 240 Dundas St., London; 519 432-7277; www.atticbooks.ca

P.T. Campbell Bookdealer. Marking its fifth anniversary this fall, the store was started by Paul Campbell, a former Kellogg's security guard, after he bought out a Petrolia bookstore and snapped up a cache of books at garage and church sales. Campbell's has become part of the downtown London circuit for used book readers. The quality of books offered has risen with the march of time. Campbell's will buy books for up to 10 per cent of the original cover price, but, like other used booksellers, is only interested in titles with at least a niche market. The store also sells online at www.abebooks.com and other sites that trade in books. 388 Richmond St.; 519 640-5333; www.abebooks.com

City Lights. Started by political gadfly Marc Emery in 1975, it's been owned and operated by Teresa Tarasewicz and Jim Capel since 1992. With narrow aisles and floor-to-ceiling shelves jammed with inventory, it's no place for claustrophobics. But it's a good place to buy records, music tapes, CDs, DVDs, adult comic books and strange pop-culture artifacts and used books. A store for anyone interested in printed or recorded memorabilia, the store -- in a Victorian commercial block -- holds special appeal for the counter-culture crowd. The store also sells on EBay. 356 Richmond St.; 519 679-8420. 5

Your street. From used textbooks, to novels and great collections of the Reader's Digest, bookworms can't beat the garage sale. Spring is a good time to snap up such cheap reads, with homeowners anxious to clear out dusty corners filled by used books. Bargain-hunters know there are two prime times to hit such sales -- right away, before the best books are picked over, and just before closing, when boxed books are only steps from going into the trash.