Armchair Books
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Open 10:00 to 18:30 every day (again! finally!) at our West Port home of book dust

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ABOUT US

Very nearly alphabetised chaos

Armchair Books ekes out its intense and blustery existence on Edinburgh’s hallowed West Port…ancient home of booksellers. In view of the castle, above the Grassmarket, it bakes under the torrid Scottish sun. The dangers are manifold; our overburdened shelves groan like masts in a squall, our threadbare and quasi-oriental rugs may distractingly catch the eye or foot. Books in the window may spontaneously burst into flames, and the Managers must be kept locked in at all times… Sporadically under feeble but sinister attack by the government, we struggle under goad of Fear, towards Beauty.

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Location and Opening Hours

Smell the old books for yourself…

In addition to our Edinburgh shop, we deliver internationally via our AbeBooks online shop. Digital gift vouchers are available for use in the shop and online (just email us if you’d like to use them on our AbeBooks shop).

Come visit us at:

72-74 West Port
Edinburgh
EH1 2LE

Open from 10:00 to 18:30 every day, more or less.

* * * We will be CLOSED 13-20 March 2024 for renovation. (Maybe a bit longer if it turns out we were a touch too optimistic about our speed. Keep an eye on Twitter/X for details.) * * *

PLEASE NOTE: If you stop by during opening hours and the shop is closed, check @armchairbooks on Twitter for updates. Things happen.

A note on accessibility: We want everyone to feel welcome at Armchair Books! Like so many shops in Edinburgh, we are situated in a very old building that was unfortunately not built with the full range of human mobility variations in mind. If you have any questions about accessibility, please do not hesitate to contact us—we can usually figure out something and we’d love to help get you in amongst the books.

 

selling books

Too many books? We can help.

If you’d like to sell us books, please follow the instructions below. Please do not bring in books to sell without emailing us first.

Whether you’ve got 5 books or 500, we may be happy to purchase some of your collection and help them find a new home. Here’s how it works:

If you have some books to sell…

Please email us a high-quality image of your books, spines out—all lined up on a bookshelf is perfect. (Photographs from most modern smart phones are acceptable. Please ensure titles on spines are legible. If your books are especially unusual, we may request more details.) This will allow us to make a provisional offer on your books before you bring them in.

We must be selective about the books we purchase and appreciate your understanding that we may not be able to purchase any/all of the books you would like to sell.

We are a small team working as fast as we can and we get quite a lot of emails from people selling books, so please note it can take up to 10 days for a response. We appreciate your patience.

If you have so many books you don’t even know where to start (approximately 200 or more books)…

If you live in/around Edinburgh (accessible via public transit) and have shelves full of books needing re-homing, we may be happy to arrange a visit to your home. Please email us with some details about your collection (e.g., age, genre, language, quantity) and we will respond as soon as we can to set up a visit.

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As a small shop with limited space, we regret we cannot accept drop-offs of large quantities of books and are only able to accept books we believe we can resell. We are unable to dispose of unwanted books.

 
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Contact us

Get in touch

In addition to our Edinburgh shop, we deliver internationally via our AbeBooks online shop. Digital gift vouchers are available for use in the shop and online (just email us if you’d like to use them on our AbeBooks shop).

Questions? Contact us via email hello@armchairbooks.co.uk for enquiries regarding:

We also begrudgingly answer the phone:
+44 (0)131 229 5927

PUBLISHERS/AUTHORS: As a secondhand bookshop operating in a small space, we (1) cannot sell any new publications and (2) do not have capacity to host book signings, readings, or other events. Please try one of the many other wonderful independent bookshops in Edinburgh! You’re spoilt for choice, honestly.

We are a small, family-run business and our staff are often busy helping customers in the shop. As such, we regret that we cannot always answer detailed questions via telephone or that our email responses may take a few days.

We always do our best to help as quickly as possible and appreciate your patience when we’re trapped under a mountain of dusty old tomes.

We don’t respond to enquiries via social media. We’re there for the senseless banter and the spritely exchange of gifs, and we expect you to bring your A game.

Follow us on Twitter:

 
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Working At Armchair Books

One of us! One of us!

We do not currently have any vacancies (really! we wouldn’t lie to you, you’re not like the others), but if any become available they will be posted here and on Twitter. Please do not send unsolicited applications.

Armchair Books is staffed by Edinburgh’s finest book people who brave the shop’s untraceable noises and unique microclimate to help you find ‘that blue book with the gold writing on the spine, possibly with a drawing of an elephant or a tornado on the cover’. Each member of our team brings a wealth of knowledge to the shop—as artists or designers or students of fascinatingly obscure stuff—so please feel free to ask us questions about our favourite books or sections in the shop.

A note about internships and employment: Armchair Books is a partnership jointly owned and managed by Jaclyn Kaye and Andrew Govan-Prini. We are proud to be an accredited Living Wage Employer. For ethical reasons we do not employ unpaid interns or volunteers, or age-rate staff wages.