[Where To Find Rare Books In Toronto
Everardo Laboy
Are you looking for a tough-to-find book in Toronto? David Mason Books could have exactly what you need. Since their establishment in 1967, they have specialized in rare books, especially 18th and 19th-century literature, Canadian literature, and modern firsts.
Get a better idea of what you can find when you head to David Mason Books by taking a look at their catalog. Do you have some rare books that you think this bookstore might be interested in? Learn more about how you can sell your books here.
Go ahead and take a look at their online store to see some of what they have available here. Do you have some old books at home that you think may be worth something? Learn more about getting an appraisal.
To get a better idea of what you can find when you visit Contact Editions, take a look at their online inventory. There are lots of amazing treasures to find when you visit Contact Editions. You can also try selling your books here.
Please search or browse our inventory of hard to find, out of print, used, and rare books. If you can't find what you like please fill out our off-line search form and we will search our off-line inventory, other bookstores and book search services for you.
This bookstore unfortunately has just closed PERMANENTLY as of Jan 1, 2018. The tax raise in Toronto affected small businesses and Paul, the owner of the bookstore for over 40 years, had to close shop. I am leaving this here, because it was one of the first Toronto bookstores I visited and I bought so many classics from here. It had a huge impact on my life and for all of my university and high school experience.
A friend suggested this location after I posted a first draft of this post. By trying to find this bookshop I stumbled across the one above (the two are very close to each other). This store has a specialization towards diversity and inclusivity. They feature many female authors, LGBTTQIAAP authors, and various genres from various backgrounds.
However, during the Winter semester four University colleges have a MASSIVE book sale which has antiquarian/rare books, archives, letters, music, new books, old books, signed books. You name it! I have hoarded MANY boxes from these book sales. Here are links to the main four:
Stephen Fowler (SF): If you are familiar with the W.W. Jacobs piece, you know that the message of that story is "be careful what you wish for." Several years before I opened the shop, I already knew that I'd like to create a bookstore where people would be surprised by unexpected books (not the book you're looking for, but the one you didn't even know existed). So the "careful what you wish for" sentiment seemed to apply... plus, "The Monkey's Paw" is a memorable and somewhat creepy title, which also seemed fitting!
After we'd had the machine for a while, I came to understand that the reason it suited the shop so well was because it basically provided the Monkey's Paw experience in miniature: for people who didn't have the time, patience, or money to browse the shelves, it was an instantaneous way to get the thrill of bibliographic discovery. Some of my acquaintances in the book trade dismiss the Biblio-Mat as a cheap gimmick, and accuse its users of not being "serious" book people (and indeed our more experienced customers do prefer to spend their time browsing the shelves, rather than feeding tokens into the machine). But having seen literally tens of thousands of budding bibliophiles receive books from the Biblio-Mat, I can attest that its users are mostly curious, open-minded, and prepared to find interest and amusement in whatever the machine selects for them. And through it, we've been able to find homes for countless orphaned old books.
SF: However difficult it may be to sell old books, it's definitely MORE difficult for me to find them (buy them). Although millions of books were printed in the 20th century, the interesting and valuable ones are becoming rather scarce at this point; and to keep up with the demand, I'm constantly scrambling to find more. If I keep the business going for another decade or two, I'll eventually run into a situation where I simply can't find the sorts of books I like to sell, in the quantities necessary. To steal a phrase from the oil industry: I feel like we may have reached "peak book."
SF: Unlike many of my colleagues in the rare book trade, I don't really care so much about terrifically valuable books. I'd rather sell 20 interesting old books for $50 each (or 50 books for $20 each!) than a single elite rarity for $1,000. That said, I do occasionally come across something quite remarkable, and of course I'm happy to sell it for good money. A particularly scarce item I once turned up was an enormous trilingual lexicon printed in German, Latin, and ancient Greek, published in Alsace in 1587. I happened to find a customer for it on a bitterly cold winter day, when the furnace at my house had broken down; I sold the book for the exact price of a very expensive furnace repair!
To ensure the material is available when you require it, please submit a request at minimum one day in advance by email at ask.grah...@utoronto.ca, by phone 416-978-5851 or in person with the following information:
John Strachan, first Bishop of Toronto and founder of the University of Toronto and of Trinity College, made two substantial gifts to the Trinity College Graham Library, the first comprising 600 books in 1853, shortly after the founding of the College, and the last as a bequest of his 3,000-volume library at his death in December 1867. For a century or longer these books remained in the circulating collection of the College Graham Library
The Upjohn Waldie Collection encompasses a range of rare materials including incunabula such as Hypnerotomachia Polyphili (1499) to an important subcollection of the works of Eric Gill (1882-1940), who has been deemed the greatest artist-craftsman of the last century.
The G8/G20 Research Collection in the Graham Library includes materials in various media emanating from the G7/G8 and G20 economic summits of major industrialized, democratic countries and from associated ministerial and other meetings, as well as analytical material produced by the G8 Research Group at the University of Toronto.
The collections form a valuable repository that encompasses a diverse array of unique and rare literary, historical, and creative materials, including books, journals, pamphlets, handwritten manuscripts, artwork (such as paintings, photographs, and posters), and various other records.
Using Special CollectionsConsult Locating Materials in Our Special Collections for information on how to navigate our finding aids to find items pertinent to the topic of your research.
Digital Collections & ExhibitionsOur digital collections provide a representation of the wide range of the holdings in our special collections, encompassing photographs, artwork, personal correspondence, literary manuscripts, and publications (such as Acta Victoriana), among other materials.
Additionally, the various exhibitions curated by the librarians and the archivists (and the associated catalogues) serve as an introduction to the diverse selection of the resources held within these collections.
Our digital collections provide a representation of the wide range of the holdings in our special collections, encompassing photographs, artwork, personal correspondence, literary manuscripts, and publications (such as Acta Victoriana), among other materials.
Additional Materials
on the History of Victoria UniversityVictoria University Archives holds unpublished materials comprising the records of the administrative bodies, affiliates, administrative staff, faculty, students, student clubs, and alumni associations dating from 1836 up to the present.
Victoria University Archives holds unpublished materials comprising the records of the administrative bodies, affiliates, administrative staff, faculty, students, student clubs, and alumni associations dating from 1836 up to the present.
Victoria University Library maintains a number of special collections in various subject areas. Included in the collections are printed books, manuscripts and papers. Many of the items are catalogued, and inventories and finding aids are available for the manuscript collections.
Materials in special collections are for use in the Library only and do not circulate. Advance notice is required for manuscript use. Please see Reference Assistance to inquire about any of our special collections.
Retrievals of rare books take place 11am and 3pm daily. For same day use, please contact us by phone or in person during operating hours, at least 30 minutes prior to the retrieval time.
TBCL, is a Montreal-based "By Appointment Only" rare book & document business with over 30 years of experience providing interesting items to an eclectic & discerning global clientele. Our inventory, only a portion of which is online at any time is suited to both the Completist & High Spot Collector. The emphasis is on First Editions of English & American literature, Cornerstone books in Science & Travel, Livre d'Artiste, Can Lit, Mystery & Detection, Speculative Fiction, Albert Einstein, Borges, Hemingway, Virginia Woolf & Bloomsbury. Usually, you can find in our mix, important Presentation & Association Copies - Our favourite predilection.
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