Secondhand and Antiquarian Bookshops in the UK and Republic of Ireland
New charity bookshop Books Abroad Banff
New listing Moray Waste Busters Forres
New shop Under The Leaves Forres
New listing Learning Tree Partnership Arbroath
Madigan's Food Emporium has closed
New shop Book Attic Dundee
BHF Book Shop Dundee has closed
Winram's Bookshop Ballater has closed
Jane Jones Aboyne is long closed
New shop Stella's Voice Peterhead
Open at advertised times
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Better Read Books and Gifts/ELLON/18 Ythan Terrace
Better Read Books and Gifts
18 Ythan Terrace ELLON AB41 9LJ
map
tel:
01358729922, mob: 07500 904910 e-mail web 
Open: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday - Saturday 10.00 - 5.00
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A large stock of quality affordable secondhand and antiquarian books. Friendly and helpful staff. We also stock new books, hold poetry evenings and do book launches for local authors. Art by local artists available.
Great bookshop very helpful with suggestions for new books and wide range of new and old books for all tastes, very kid friendly as well mthom 07.10.17
This traditional-style bookshop in the small town of Ellon, halfway between Aberdeen and Peterhead, is WWAD. About three-quarters of the stock is second-hand and prices are very reasonable across all categories. Good for fiction, in particular 19th and early/mid 20th-century novels, and especially good for works by Scottish authors. Lots of quite obscure vintage Scottish poetry, much of it in the local Doric dialect. Some vintage children's books. A small but interesting stock of foreign-language novels, and a shelf of Folio Society books. For non-fiction, the main specialities are Scottish books, history, military, railways and shipping, and the stock in each of these categories is impressive. For Scottish and local interest in particular, the stock is outstanding, with some genuinely rare volumes. Also a fine selection of books on mountaineering. Some good-quality biographies. There are a lot of books crammed in here, with a bit of double banking in evidence and also some very high shelves (a ladder is available). The proprietor, Bill Kelly, is ETGOW and very knowledgeable. He has been selling books here for 15 years and had a shop a few streets away for five years before that. The townsfolk of Ellon are very lucky to have this shop. Ellon has no train station, but is just off the A90 and has frequent bus services from Aberdeen, Peterhead and Fraserburgh; the stop at Market Street is only a couple of minutes walk from the shop. While in Ellon, the nearby New Arc Wildlife Rescue shop, run by a small local charity, at 42 Bridge Street, is worth a quick look. It has about 700 second-hand books, mostly paperback fiction, reasonably priced. Many are 90p each or £1.50 for two. New Arc is open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm (9am to 4pm in winter). Booker T 07.10.24
Book Attic/DUNDEE/93 Perth Road
Book Attic
93 Perth Road DUNDEE DD1 4HZ
map
tel:
01382 202264 e-mail
Open: Monday - Friday 10.00 - 5.30, Saturday 10.00 - 4.00
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Quite a small shop, but a high-quality and diverse stock of fiction and non-fiction. Despite the name, the bookshop occupies the ground floor of the premises.
Just realised that this very good shop, which opened in July 2021, is absent from TBG. I went there in 2022 while passing through Dundee on the way further north, the only bookshop in the city I had time to visit. A good decision, as it's certainly WAD and prices were very reasonable. On the south-western edge of the city centre, about a 15-minute walk from the railway station, the shop's proximity to Dundee University contributes both to fairly brisk trade and a diverse and good-quality stock, with leanings towards the academic. Philosophy, social sciences, art, Scottish history, military and books on local interest are among its strengths. Very good indeed for fiction. The owner, Duncan, is friendly and knowledgeable. Second-hand books make up the vast majority of the stock, but a few new books are also for sale (books about Dundee or by local authors). One last thing... it's emphatically not an attic! Booker T 02.05.24
Updating the comments I made in May (which followed a 2022 visit). This is certainly a decent shop, with above-average stock, but I'm rowing back on my WAD recommendation as its small size means this is perhaps not quite the case for most TBG readers, at least not from any great distance. However, if in Dundee, it is well worth checking out. Only a mile from the city centre. The prices are perhaps a notch or two above the norm in most categories. The fiction stock is good. Classic novels and crime fiction are well represented. Vintage Penguins are around the £4 mark. The poetry section is creditable enough, but the drama is a bit disappointing. A fair smattering of Doric literature, notably Doric verse. A shelf of Folio Society volumes, all at a rather steep £10. For non-fiction, the history and military history sections are quite strong. The Scottish interest and local books are good, although there are some quite high prices in evidence for some of these. A reasonable art section, with some unusual volumes, and a fairly good stock of biographies. If Scottish books are your interest, it's certainly worth a walk up the Perth Road. Booker T 07.10.24
Bookends /ABERDEEN/The Hub Elphinstone Road Old Aberdeen
Bookends
The Hub Elphinstone Road Old Aberdeen ABERDEEN AB24 3TU
map
tel:
01224 273779 e-mail web
Open: Monday - Friday 10.00 - 4.00 during term time. See website for more details.
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We are a second-hand charity bookshop on the University of Aberdeen campus, run entirely by student volunteers. We currently have over 6000 books in the shop, ranging from medical and science textbooks to literature and fiction.
Standard problem for a Student Union website: page not reliably available (e.g. not online at 30.8.12); but the www.qype.co.uk page seems to be current ... xanthias2002. 05.09.12
Website changed again. xanthias2002 15.01.18
According to their Facebook page they've moved to The Hub and are closed for the summer. David 12.07.19
Website link updated. There is also a Facebook Page. TBG 02.05.20
Books Abroad/BANFF/47 High Street
Books Abroad
47 High Street BANFF AB45 1AN
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tel:
01261 498080 e-mail web
Open: Monday (Tuesday in January & February) - Friday 10.00 - 4.00, Saturday 10.00 - 3.30
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The bookshop of the Books Abroad SCIO charity, which redistributes books to educational organisations overseas.
The Books Abroad charity's only bookshop, and the only second-hand bookshop for many miles in any direction. Although small, it has quite a reasonable range of stock, with a good choice of local and other Scottish books. The prices are low across all categories. The left-hand wall is filled with paperback novels, at £1 each. Crime and fantasy paperbacks are also £1, and there are quite a lot of modern crime fiction hardbacks at £2 or £2.50. A small selection of children's books, mostly modern, but a few vintage titles. Children's annuals (all fairly modern) are mostly £2. For non-fiction, few categories other than Scottish/local interest books have a significant stock, but sport, history, military, travel and biographies are the best represented, with smaller selections for transport, art, photography, natural history and gardening. When fine, there are trolleys outside with books priced mainly from £1.50 to £2.50, and just 50p or £1 for children's books. Cash payments only. This old county town is rather off the beaten track, but is a lovely place to visit, with lots of Georgian buildings and a nice atmosphere. While in Banff, two other shops might be worth a quick look, both on Bridge Street. The first, at No.40, is Ivy's Emporium (the shop sign says 'Ivy Blanchard'), which is a rather nice antique, vintage and retro shop with some old books - never more than about 200 and currently fewer than that - although (in contrast to more or less everything else it sells), the books seem to be nothing special. Ivy's is open on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 10am to 4pm. Cash and card payments. The second, a few doors down at No.32, is Oldanu, which sells 'pre-loved and re-loved' items. This shop is up for sale as the owner wants to retire. It has a few hundred books (many of them children's books), mostly charity-shop fare, but cheaply priced, most at £1 or £2. Cash only. Oldanu is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 4pm. Booker T 07.10.24
Books and Beans/ABERDEEN/22 Belmont Street
Books and Beans
22 Belmont Street ABERDEEN AB10 1JH
map
tel:
01224 646438 e-mail web
Open: Monday - Wednesday 9.30 - 4.00, Thursday - Saturday 9.30 - 7.00, Sunday 9.30 - 4.00
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Thousands of second-hand books in stock, both fiction and non-fiction. Searchable on a database at a terminal in store and shelved alphabetically by category. The coffee shop serves high-quality food and beverages. Located just off Union Street in the heart of the city centre. Cards only - no cash.
Close to the main shopping street and with a small to medium stock of books, a bookshop combined with a coffee shop sounds like the perfect combination - unfortunately the reality for the dedicated book hunter is somewhat less. With tables and chairs positioned in the main first floor book section you are left with all too many bookshelves shielded by customers sitting in chairs. Waitresses politely ask to get past you as you try to see the books over tables and chairs whilst trying not to listen in to the conversations of those you are hovering over. The shop's computer searchable stock list cannot really replace the browsers delight of finding an interesting looking volume on a shelf. So while the coffee and soup certainly smell wonderful, this is really a caf? with books for sale rather than the other way around. Jeremy Briggs
I agree entirely with Jeremy about the difficulties of looking at the books, but I would add that the staff are really nice, and if you go in early it is much easier to see everything. Rosemary Kaye 15.03.11
My first visit to Aberdeen. Already had a snack at the closing Art Gallery, so I only looked quickly at the books here. Bought a nearly new local guide to help my next, longer visit. Also have nearly12,000 items online... Chris K 07.03.15
A coffee shop with second-hand books for sale, established in 2003, one of the earliest of this hybrid genre. The books are less numerous now - in years gone by, there were more than 15,000 here - but there is still a large stock and, on the whole, the prices are reasonable. As with most establishments of this kind, access can be impeded by the presence of customers who have come in to drink coffee and tuck in to the food (both good), sitting squatly in front of the books. An obliging attitude seems to prevail here, and only about half of the books are situated in locations where they are likely to be obscured, but to avoid problems of this kind, it is best to arrive as soon after opening as possible. If all else fails, there is an in-store searchable database of the stock. Almost all of the books are upstairs. A locked glass cabinet of rare books contains some good-quality titles. The selection of fiction is good. Plenty of the books are priced at £1, £2 or £3, denoted by coloured stickers on the spines. Some interesting vintage hardback novels, many by Scottish authors, reasonably priced. An extensive range of sci-fi, crime fiction, thrillers and romance novels, as well as lots of Marvel comics and a small but creditable stock of poetry. The non-fiction is not quite as good, although the politics and military history sections are fairly solid and there is a decent range on Scottish subjects. Downstairs are a couple of cases containing biographies, including some of quite good quality, and books on "mind, body and spirit". Card purchases only. Booker T 07.10.24
Cliff Milne Antiquarian Books/CULLEN/Cullen Antiques CentreSeafield Street
Cliff Milne Antiquarian Books
Cullen Antiques Centre Seafield Street CULLEN AB56 4RR
map
tel:
01466 793739 web
Open: Monday - Saturday 10.00 - 4.00, closed Wednesday.
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Bookroom in an antiques centre
Deeside Antiques Emporium/KINCARDINE O_NEIL/24 North Deeside Road
Deeside Antiques Emporium
24 North Deeside Road KINCARDINE O'NEIL AB34 5AA
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tel:
07921 648460 e-mail web
Open: 7 days 10.30 - 4.00
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Large antiques centre including a specialist book dealer with an extensive and good-quality stock.
This large antiques centre in a cavernous former church in the attractive village of Kincardine O'Neil, on the A93 between Banchory and Aboyne, houses a couple of dozen traders. These include a book dealer, Holly Booth, who is also in charge of the administration of the centre (the telephone number is hers). She has several thousand books, mainly non-fiction. Her specialities are Scottish and military interest, and the quality is generally good. Also books on art and some antiquarian stock. A limited selection of fiction, mainly classic literature. Another north-east book dealer, Cliff Milne, is represented too, but his stock here is very small. The books are here seven days a week, although Holly is only present on certain days. When not here, she can be contacted by telephone. Kincardine O'Neil is easily reached by bus from Aberdeen, Banchory, Aboyne and Ballater. Booker T 08.10.24
Deeside Books/BALLATER/18-20 Bridge Street
Deeside Books
18-20 Bridge Street BALLATER AB35 5QP
map
tel:
013397 54080 e-mail web
Open: 7 days 10.00 - 5.00
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General stock with emphasis on local history, Scottish, military, fishing and field sports, transport, travel and topography. Stock of approx 10,000 varying from paperbacks to collector's items along with some remainders. Located on main A93 Aberdeen to Braemar road. In centre of Village.
An excellent shop. Extensive non-fiction holdings, and some antiquarian material, in general at very reasonable prices. Also stocks interesting Scottish remainders. Well worth a visit. Second Nature 16.08.11
A tidy bookshop with a wide-ranging general stock, including strong Scottish history and topography sections (as one would expect). Interestingly, a varied Africa selection as well. S+S 09.08.18
Unquestionably a good shop, but uniformly high prices mar the experience. Some new books, but the vast majority of the stock is second-hand. The condition of the books is very good. An creditable stock of literature, with lots of vintage hardbacks of good quality; unusually, novels, poetry and plays are all shelved indiscriminately together, by author surname. Vintage Penguins are mostly in the £4 to £5 range, with some as high as £8. Prices for vintage green Penguin crime novels range from £6 to £20. In each case, the prices depend on scarcity and whether they are first editions. There is a good selection of literature by Scottish authors, with some Gaelic and Doric books. Seven shelves of Folio Society volumes, at quite stiff prices. The non-fiction stock is very good, and reflects the local area in several ways: lots of books on hunting, shooting and fishing, and no fewer than seven shelves of books on royalty (this is Royal Deeside, after all). An excellent range of books on the local area, and also on other parts of Scotland. The stock for Scottish history, architecture and theology is very good. A comprehensive stock for history in general, including ancient history. Also good for politics, philosophy, sport (especially equestrian sport), mountaineering and hillwalking, geology, natural history, and rail, maritime and motor transport (not so good for aviation). Quite strong for travel, art, antiques, pottery and cookery. A small selection of vintage children's books. Some antiquarian stock. The high prices here reflect the affluence of the local area and also the well-heeled tourist market. The shop is probably WAD anyway, given the quality of the stock, but yielding too greatly to temptation here may have a distinctly adverse effect on your bank balance. Booker T 07.10.24
Learning Tree Partnership/ARBROATH/32-34 Guthrie Port
The Learning Tree Partnership
32-34 Guthrie Port ARBROATH DD11 1RN
map
tel:
01241 230561 e-mail web
Open: Monday - Saturday 10.00 - 4.00
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Charity bookshop, selling an extensive range of fiction, non-fiction and children’s books. The Learning Tree Partnership provides learning opportunities including work skills training for people with learning difficulties throughout the county of Angus.
Looks to have quite a large stock, judging by the photos online. Certainly a worthwhile cause. Regrettably, Arbroath is not on my itinerary for a Scottish trip this year, otherwise I’d have been more than happy to call in here, as well as checking out the town’s ancient ruined abbey, of course! Booker T 27.02.24
A neat and tidy shop selling books, toys and cds. A good selection of fiction both in hardback and paperback, a good selection of childrens books with the toys. Non fiction is rather general, lots of biography, cooking and gardening. Prices are very good, some bargains to be had if you look hard enough. Street parking is available outside the shop. Just round the corner in the high st there is a antique shop that sells books. Mainly paperback fiction. Also sells toys, computer games and modern collectables. Booksellerbull 28.09.24
Last month's review by Booksellerbull is an accurate summary. Fiction is this nicely laid-out shop's main strength, mostly mid and mass-market (including lots of crime novels), predominantly in paperback, but also some literary fiction, although few classic novels. Most of the paperbacks are £1.50, some are £2. Hardback novels are mostly £2, some £2.50. Prices for non-fiction are also generally on the low side. Cookery, crafts and gardening feature heavily. Good for biographies, not all of which are mass-market titles. Also a reasonable selection of military history, travel and Scottish books. More true crime books than usually found in a shop of this kind. No other subject is present in any significant quantity. Lots of children's books at low prices. The shop is right in the town centre, not much more than a five-minute walk from the bus and railway stations, and only a stone's throw from the red sandstone ruins of the historically important Arbroath Abbey (worth a visit). Just along from the abbey, at 277 High Street, is an antique shop, Once Upon A Time, which opened five weeks ago. One of its specialities is antiquarian books, especially on the local area. At present it has 400 to 500 books. If the Arbroath area or Angus/Forfarshire in general are among your interests, it is certainly worth a visit. Prices are not cheap, but seemed reasonable, given the scarcity of much of the stock. Local histories, church histories etc can be found here in abundance, as well as runs of Arbroath Year Books and Arbroath Herald Annuals. Once Upon A Time is open from 10am to 3pm from Tuesday to Saturday. Booker T 07.10.24
Mercat Bookshop/ABERDEEN/45 Castle Street
Mercat Bookshop
45 Castle Street ABERDEEN AB11 5BB
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tel:
01224 358603 web
Open: Monday - Friday 10.00 - 3.00
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VSA's Charity Bookshop has a selection of donated good quality, second-hand books from best sellers to science fiction, educational and science to nature, and history to art. Payment by cash only.
This has just relocated from King St and now has lovely new premises. It's a straightforward charity bookshop, shelves are well spread out, prices are very low indeed, and you never know what you will find. Good coffee shop in Salvation Army Citadel just across the Castlegate. Rosemary Kaye 17.03.11
I was there from CANADA in April. Excellent, friendly and knowleageble service. Wish I had their e-mail to order more books on SCOTLAND from people who know ABERDEEN! Claude Boyer 10.07.15
Low prices are much in evidence at this cash-only city-centre bookshop, which raises funds for social care charity Voluntary Service Aberdeen. Most books are only £1 or £2. A very good choice of classic novels. Lots of mass/mid-market fiction. Sci-fi and crime fiction feature quite strongly, as do historical novels. There is a somewhat anachronistically titled "ladies' fiction" section. Strong for Scottish novels of all vintages, as well as works by Scottish poets. The non-fiction is rather a mixed bag, but there is a large stock of Scottish history and local interest books, and the sport, general history and military sections are also good. Quite a decent selection on gardening, cookery, music and nature. The biographies are mainly mass-market titles, with a smattering of better-quality volumes. The six shelves of "books of interest" - the equivalent of Oxfam's collectables section - contain a few scarce titles but are not, in the main, especially interesting, although they are reasonably priced. The shop consists of a large front room and a smaller room at the back; certain categories (Scottish history, for example), are present in both rooms. The hottest bookshop I have ever been in. The elderly volunteers must have whacked that thermostat dial right up to the max. NWAD, but worth a look if visiting the city. The stock is not as good as at the nearby Oxfam bookshop, but the prices are much lower. A great place to hunt for bargains and warm yourself up. Booker T 06.10.24
Moray Waste Busters/FORRES/Waterford Recycling Centre, Waterford Road
Moray Waste Busters
Waterford Recycling Centre, Waterford Road FORRES IV36 3TN
map
tel:
01309 676056, mob: 07355 996 210 e-mail web
Open: Monday - Saturday 10.00 - 3.30, Sunday 10.00 -2.30
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Second-hand bookshop at the Reuse Shop, located beside the recycling centre. Moray Waste Busters is a community organisation that focuses on securing the reuse of items in order to promote sustainability and combat climate change.
Old Aberdeen Book Shop/ABERDEEN/140 SpitalOld Aberdeen
Old Aberdeen Book Shop
140 Spital Old Aberdeen ABERDEEN AB24 3JU
map
tel:
01224 658355, mob: 07716 110054 e-mail web
Open: Monday and Tuesday 11.15 - 5.15, Wednesday 11.30 - 5.15, Thursday 11.15 - 5.15, Friday 11.15 - 1.00 and 2.00 - 5.15, Saturday 12.00 - 4.30
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We specialise in buying and selling good quality books, covering a wide range of authors and subjects. We have over 7000 books on display, many of which are out of print.
Best in Aberdeen, this shop has a good range of general stock. Its nearness to the University means it usually has quality literature, history, military, religion, politics etc. as well as good stocks of local interest. Well worth a visit. Ken Clark 13.09.11
A good variety of intelligent reading in hard and softback. Modest prices. Decent turnover of stock. Pierce Roche 08.06.12
Excellent shop larger than seems from outside. Owner very helpful. mikey 29.03.14
A really excellent shop, very much of the old-fashioned kind, and WWAD. Quite small premises, but packed with good books from floor to ceiling. Prices are distinctly modest throughout. There is rather too much stock for the size of the shop, with books arranged in stacks and rows on the floor. Some antiquarian stock. A very good range of classic, literary and mid-market fiction. Also good for sci-fi and crime novels. The poetry and drama stock is unusually strong. Outstanding for books on the local area and indeed Scotland in general. Very good too for history and military, with a comprehensive and high-quality selection in both categories. Also a good stock in many other subjects: politics, international relations, philosophy, theology, Ancient Greece and Rome, music, art, photography, film, true crime, science, natural history (especially ornithology), railways, maritime, and mountaineering and hillwalking. Children's books are not a speciality, but there are some vintage titles. The proprietor is ETGOW and very knowledgeable. He told me that trade has slackened off considerably in recent years and it now makes little difference whether or not it is university term time. The shop is about a 20-minute walk from the city centre, near Aberdeen University, but the No.20 bus goes past it and several other buses stop a short walk away on King Street (alight at the Pittodrie Place stop, near the Aberdeen FC ground). I'd rate this the best of all the bookshops in north-east Scotland. Booker T 07.10.24
Orb_s Community Bookshop/HUNTLY/10½ The Square
Orb's Community Bookshop
10½ The Square HUNTLY AB54 8BR
map
tel:
01466 793765 e-mail web
Open: Monday - Saturday 10.00 - 4.00
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Run by not-for-profit organisation, Huntly Heritage and Bookshop Community. General secondhand and new Scottish interest books. It is a place to find what you never knew you wanted!
Moved to new address. Alternative e-mail huntly.heritage@btopenworld.com TBG2 07.07.21
Oxfam Books and Music/DUNDEE/45 Reform Street
Oxfam Books and Music
45 Reform Street DUNDEE DD1 1SL
map
tel:
01382 229681 e-mail web
Open: Monday - Saturday 9.00 - 5.00, Sunday 12.00 - 4.00
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Medium-sized shop in the city centre. Wide-ranging stock of fiction and non-fiction.
About half way between Desperate Dans statue and the McManus Galleries this is a medium sided Oxfam shop which is 80-90% books with the rest being CDs and DVDs. While it may still have been a new-ish shop with the cream of the stock when I was there, the wide range of topics both fiction and non-fiction and a surprisingly good selection of titles within each made this the best Dundee bookshop during my April 2014 trip. Jeremy Briggs 29.04.14
The stock here is good, but what really lets the shop down are the prices, which are quite bullish even for run-of-the mill books. For anything desirable or unusual, they vary between high and sky-high. The choice of classic fiction is extensive, but even slim and quite battered Penguins are a minimum of £3.99, with many at £4.99. The crime fiction stock is excellent, and these are more reasonably priced, at £2.99. Most mid/mass-market novels are £2.99 in paperback, but hardbacks are £4.99 or £5.99. The poetry section is rather heavy on dull anthologies, but contains some good-quality individual volumes. The drama section is not up to much. Lots of graphic novels, some at quite heavy mark-ups. A fair selection of children's books, but more expensive than at most Oxfams. Unjustifiably high prices predominate in the non-fiction stock too, notably in the history, military history, Scottish and local interest books, which is a shame as the stock in all these sections is very good. Art, architecture, photography, music, travel, transport, true crime, crafts and gardening all have quite good selections. The biographies too are of reasonable quality. There are large but not very interesting sections for both sciences and the humanities, with rather too many university textbooks. Quite an extensive sport section, but not much quality in evidence, other than among the angling books. Locked glass cabinets contain unexceptional signed books at ridiculously inflated prices, but also some local interest books with short print runs and a few rarities, for which the pricing was high but not too exorbitant. This shop would be WAD if the prices were more realistic. Still worth a look if in Dundee, but go expecting to be irritated. Booker T 07.10.24
Oxfam Bookshop/ABERDEEN/5-8 Back Wynd
Oxfam Bookshop
5-8 Back Wynd ABERDEEN AB10 1JN
map
tel:
01224 642490 e-mail web
Open: Monday - Saturday 9.00 - 5.00, Sunday 12.00 - 4.00
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Just off the main shopping street, this small Oxfam bookshop is long and narrow with its central shelf units angled like arrow heads towards the door. While their positioning may allow more units to be fitted in, it does not help free movement around the shop however, since they reach above head height, it means that this shop does have a surprising amount of stock for its size. Jeremy Briggs
I agree with the review - the shelves are arranged so that it is v difficult to browse without being in someone's way. It is also quite pricey for paperback fiction. They do, however, have a display of "new in", which is a frequent source of good finds. Rosemary Kaye 16.03.11
In the centre of the city, just off Union Street. Pleasant selection of attractive foreign books in the windows. It is small and narrow but locals can easily re-arrange to let you browse your areas. Couldn't find anything special but will certainly look back, on my next visit. Chris K 07.03.15
Rather a small shop for such a populous city. The premises are long and narrow, but clever configuration of the shelves means a surprising amount of stock is packed in here. Most of the paperback fiction is in the £2.50 to £3.50 range, with some at £4. However, the elevated pricing for out-of-print titles bears all the hallmarks of assiduous online comparison (OOP Viragos seemed to start at £8). A good selection of literary and classic novels, and quite good for crime fiction and sci-fi. The poetry and drama sections are nothing special. For non-fiction, the shop's real strength is its unusually good stock of Scottish history and books on the local area. Strong for history in general, in fact, as well as military books. A small selection of biographies, but the quality is fairly high; the same is true of the art and photography books. Quite good for science, philosophy, politics, religion, travel and natural history. Good for music books and outstanding for music scores. The children's section is small, but good quality, including some vintage titles. A large selection of modern Marvel comics at various prices, but mostly £2 to £3. About half of the rare and collectable books genuinely merit those adjectives, although some are priced rather steeply. This is an above-average Oxfam bookshop. Perhaps NWAD unless Scottish subjects are your interest, but certainly worth a visit if in Aberdeen. The quality of the stock is good, with plenty of quite elusive books, although anything remotely covetable is marked up. To be fair, most of the prices stay on the right side of outlandish. But don't expect bargains here. Booker T 06.10.24
Stella_s Voice/PETERHEAD/The Barn, Faith Acres, Inverugie
Stella's Voice
The Barn, Faith Acres, Inverugie PETERHEAD AB42 3DQ
map
tel:
01779 876962 e-mail web
Open: Monday - Saturday 10.00 - 4.00
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Charity superstore in rural location just west of Peterhead. Stella's Voice is an organisation that works to prevent human trafficking. This is the largest of its six UK retail outlets and the only one with a significant stock of books.
Another of these massive charity superstores that are beginning to spring up around the UK. This one, which has 12,000 sq ft of selling space, is rather unusual in that it is almost in the middle of nowhere, in a rural location just beyond the western boundary of Peterhead. All sorts of second-hand goods are sold here, with books only a small part of its retail offering. There are up to 2,000 books - the staff proudly informed me of this figure, but that seemed a slight overestimate (I'd guess 1,700) - including children's books, some of which are shelved separately, near the toys. Typical charity-shop fare, at best - and that might be gilding the lily somewhat. The one strong thing in this outlet's favour is that the books really are very cheap indeed. Most paperbacks are 50p and most hardbacks are £1. The better books are individually priced, although none seemed expensive. A half-decent selection of popular fiction and some reasonable-quality biographies. All more or less randomly plonked on the shelves, but arrangement by colour (why?!) is evident among some of the paperback novels. The non-fiction stock is fairly limited and no single category has any substantial stock. A word of warning: you probably need a car to get here. The place is not easy to find, up a narrow lane off the A950 Longside Road, on the right-hand side if travelling from Peterhead, just before the Forehill water treatment works. Look out for the Stella's Voice placard by the roadside and also the large sign for 'Café Nineteen'. The A950 is on a bus route (the 66 from Peterhead to Maud, which runs only every two hours), but I think the location of the stops might necessitate quite a walk along tussocky and overgrown verges by the side of a busy road. Believe me, this charity outlet is really not worth tramping through thistles for! Even for those with a car, I'd say it's NWAD if books are all you are looking for. Booker T 07.10.24
Under the Leaves/FORRES/30 High Street
Under the Leaves
30 High Street
FORRES
IV36 1DB
map
e-mail
web
Open: Monday - Saturday 10.00 - 5.00
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Independent bookshop on the main shopping street in Forres, opened in January 2024. Not just new books, but also a second-hand section, with “a bit of everything”.
It is good to see a bookshop open in this small town in Moray. And particularly pleasing that it sells second-hand as well as new books. The shop is owned by a local couple, John and Dörte (Dee) McPhun, who met while studying at Aberdeen University. This is their first business venture - let’s hope it thrives. According to the website, they “have as many books as can reasonably be squeezed into our little shop. There’s shiny new books and battered old books.” From what I can see online, the second-hand stock looks to be in pretty good condition, although perhaps some less photogenic “battered” books are also present! Looking forward to finding out in person later this year. Will report back. Booker T 27.02.24
The shop's first year has been a resounding success, necessitating a move to larger premises with more space for books. It reopened today in its new home at 30 High Street. Also apparently thriving is the town of Forres itself. Although only small (population 10,000), no fewer than 11 new shops opened there in 2024, with several more expanding and others about to open; there is now only one empty shop on the High Street. Under the Leaves is about a ten-minute walk from Forres railway station. Three frequent bus services - routes 10 and M96 (Inverness-Aberdeen) and 12 (Inverness-Elgin) - pass the premises. Booker T 18.01.25
