Where to buy second hand?

JackKelly

Can anyone suggest a good spot in Dublin to pick up second hand novels? Not the library!

cousin_borat

Downstairs Chapters on Abbey Street

BossArky

Maybe this is obvious... but I find the easiest and best, plus my favourite place to get books is ebay. There is always someone selling the book I want a dirt cheap price if I wait for a week or two.

Usually £2 with about £1.50 postage... so you can shop at your leisure from your pc and get the book you want. Put on 5 or 6 bids on different books that tickle your fancy and you are more or less bound to win 2 or 3.

The ones you don't win you can always try for again later.

I used to buy second hand books down the road at a market on Sundays but found I was buying stuff that was put in front of me ... and not the stuff I actually wanted to read in the first place. Being distanced from the product through ebay makes me more selective(although one day I did come home locked and spent 12 quid on a belt buckle! :eek: )

damienom

You can't beat Chapters to be honest - great spot too for very cheap new books too

DublinWriter

TimAy wrote:

Can anyone suggest a good spot in Dublin to pick up second hand novels? Not the library!

Any charity shop, basically. I love trawlling the 7 or more charity shops on both sides of Camden Street.

There's also two secondhand book markets in Howth at the weekends.

JackKelly

was actually looking through ebay. got animal farm for 4.56.I'll have to pick up a few more.

Dades

Just got George RR Martins "Fevre Dream" off an eBay sellor.
It really is great for obscure second-hand and new books.

There's a great second hand shop on Dun Laoghaire main st too.

Eoin

I like to order a load from www.abebooks.com every now and again, but you have to know what you're looking for though.

iguana

Oxfam have dedicated book shops on Parliment St and Rathmines Road.

DublinWriter

iguana wrote:

Oxfam have dedicated book shops on Parliment St and Rathmines Road.

Only because they lost gazillions in the 90's by not evaluating their donations. There's a couple of interesting stories worth googling where Oxfam have received rare books worth thousands recently.

I wouldn't bother with either Oxfam shops or e-Bay. I pick up most of my books (including hardbacks) for around €1 from most of the charity shops on Camden St.

iguana

DublinWriter wrote:

Only because they lost gazillions in the 90's by not evaluating their donations. There's a couple of interesting stories worth googling where Oxfam have received rare books worth thousands recently.

I wouldn't bother with either Oxfam shops or e-Bay. I pick up most of my books (including hardbacks) for around €1 from most of the charity shops on Camden St.

This happens to most charity shops. What basically happens is that dealers use charity shops as a source for cheap stock. Oxfam were the first and still one of the only ones to realise this was happening and now train staff and volunteers to recognise items that might be valuable and how to confirm it.

As for the hardback fiction, these are the bane of most charity retailers lives as they are very difficult to sell and expensive to dispose of.

SuchABadBunny

Graet range of all genres, most second hand books start at 5.50 and are in good nick. Enjoy!:)

genie

What about the George's Street Arcade?

Oxfam are the dearest charity shop for books, I've found, and that's competing with the other 28 charity shops in the town! But they do have some rareities, not just your run of the mill paperbacks.

Shaybo

The Secret Booksop up from Tower Records on Wicklow Street is great. There are a couple (maybe just one now) in the George's Arcade. As someone said there's a great Oxfam on Parliament Street.

tHE vAGGABOND

I buy most of my books second hand on Amazon.co.uk

but im lazy

Shaybo

tHE vAGGABOND wrote:

I buy most of my books second hand on Amazon.co.uk

but im lazy

Is the P&P not a killer?

tHE vAGGABOND

not really tbh..

I just got the Haj by Leon Uris about 10 days ago. Book was a quid, and p+p was a couple of quid - so I get the book for 3 or 4 quid..

If you shop carefully you can do well

[its a fine book btw - not as good as exodus, but a great story none the less]

r3nu4l

This question was asked in 2001. See here. More responses this time around so maybe this could become a sticky? After all, everyone likes a good bargain.

From 2001:

zebedee wrote:

You should go to Chapters on Middle Abbey street. It has loads of cheap new books on the ground floor and second hand ones in the basement. It's well worth checking out.
There is a second hand book market in Temple Bar square every Saturday which is surprisingly cheap and has a good selection.
Books Upstairs on the corner of Dame street, near Trinity has a section of reduced price modern literature.
The Secret Bookshop ( I think that's what it's called ) is on Wicklow street just past tower records on the right hand side. Just look for the little yellow sign on the pavement outside.
You might want to look at the special offers in the big chain stores like Waterstones as they can be quite cheap.

Magwitch wrote:

Apart form the Secret bookshop on Wicklow street (whoes selection is small) there is a large second hand book shop on Georges street called the "Dandilion". Huge sci-fi collection and alot of other stuff. About the best second hand book shop still in existence in the city centre. It is on the opposite side and just up for the Georges street mall (the read brick covered maket).

Same answers as have been provided here, now if only there was a search function on boards, people wouldn't have to re-hash the same threads over and over...;)

Chinafoot

r3nu4l wrote:

Same answers as have been provided here, now if only there was a search function on boards, people wouldn't have to re-hash the same threads over and over...;)

Well in fairness the secondhand book trade in Dublin has been dwindling greatly over the past few years so looking for answers on a 5 year old thread may not be so smart. For example, the Dandelion bookshop is mentioned in the second quote of your post. That shop closed in 2004 if i recall correctly.

r3nu4l

My response is simple enough...

You can add to the old thread by saying "Dandelion has since closed but you could try here..."

Instead if you look through boards you get the same things coming up over and over again, there must be about 5 or six Ulysees threads in the Literature forum, why not one thread that continually evolves.

AH is full of "I hate Pete Doherty" threads (I dislike him and his music too btw). Mods are always giving out that "this thread already exists, blah, blah" yet this thread is a perfect example.

Sorry for dragging off topic...for me Chapters has always been pretty good.

JackKelly

Having shopped around a bit, if you are buying online, amazon is the way to go. Almost all the books go for a cent used which means you only play a flat £3.94 for shipping which isn't bad at all.