The Word

I love this place. If you search a bit, you can find some absolute gems at cheap prices. Recommended most to self-​directed readers, as the staff are pretty hands-​off.

Good little used bookstore. A mixed selection of well priced books.
It was hotter than heck in there, but it is an outrageously humid day.

This place is exactly what I expected it to be — knowledgeable and adorably grumpy staff, loads of great second-​hand treasures. I’ll be coming back regularly!

As fine a small, smart bookstore as you will ever find. Just an amazingly well selected stock in a single room. Open, pleasant, well organized, owner is great. Bought too many books. Literature, art, religion, just so well selected. You’ll find something you really wanted. Prices are super reasonable.

This is one of my favorite bookstores in Montréal. They have a few outstanding sections, one being poetry. I’m slowly seeing poetry sections being reduced from small to even smaller in bookstores around North America but Words has a few hard to find authors at fairly decent prices.
If you like mining used bookstores for gold, this wouldn’t be a bad place to spend some time.

This little bookshop is the tip of the iceberg.
Don’t be fooled by the size of this little place, because the owner also has a huge collection of books at his storeroom around the corner. I called The Word yesterday looking for a book by a quebecois author that I hadn’t been able to track down. This was the fifth place I had tried. Not only did he have the book I wanted, but he also had many others by the same author in both french and english.
While I browsed the shop I also came across another novel I hadn’t been able to find anywhere else, too bad I had already ordered it on Amazon after must fruitless searching. The Word will definitely be my first stop when I look for books from now on. I saw so many good titles here and the owner is so patient and lovely.
The Word’s the word.

English literature secondhand bookstore. Choice is not extremely wide due to the size of the shop, but the attitude and proper selection of books, also the convenient location on the downtown edge of the Plateau makes it worth coming back. Some of the authors are presented with a truly wide range of works. The obvious «cultural value» of the place can be perceived through the intelligence and competence of sellers, and the atmosphere is the way it should be.

They have a wide variety of books… good place to buy second-​hand books, if you can put up with the owners somewhat hostile attitude… but then again, it’s not like I am gonna marry him, so I keep coming back whenever I need a book that does not have to be new or the newest edition.

I love this grumpy, packed tight, signage-​free second-​hand bookstore in the McGill Ghetto. The close proximity to the university (just blocks from Milton gate) makes it a goldmine of good reads, and if you’re quick you can grab most required reading for the English lit classes from the shelves here as they are bought and sold by students between semesters. Prices are fair for secondhand for sure, and the stack outside is usually $ 1, sometimes slashed to 50 cents at the cash for no apparent reason. The owner doesn’t smile or chat much with customers, but it’s a bookstore! Get your mind expansion materials here, get your chummy on elsewhere.

Great little bookstore. Not a huge selection of literature or fiction bit still takes up one whole wall. Cash only though so make sure you have plenty on hand before you start searching. Prices were about 10 $ per fiction book

The littlest secondhand bookstore that could. The Word has been a fixture of Montréal’s bookstore scene for decades, and it’s a true treasure. They’re especially strong in the English lit department, but it’s remarkable what you find there. Over the years, we’ve also done quite well with their cookbook and travel literature sections. Adrian, the owner, is a true gentleman-​bookseller.

Cette librairie a un petit quelque chose de spécial. Premièrement, parce qu’elle existe depuis plus de 35 ans, ce qui en soi est un exploit pour une librairie montréalaise indépendante; deuxièmement, parce que c’est à peine si l’étrange bâtiment a une enseigne (petite affiche collée dans la vitrine); troisièmement, parce qu’elle est essentiellement fréquentée par les étudiants de l’Université McGill qui, soit dit en passant, est à proximité. Pourquoi? Car la librairie se donne corps et âme pour dégoter des manuels scolaire, toutes disciplines confondues, en excellent état et surtout, à des prix très abordables.
Pas la peine par contre d’essayer de trouver des livres, romans et documents scolaire pour une autre institution universitaire: vous n’y trouverez que du McGill pure laine… Je voulais essayer d’y vendre mes vieux manuels de CÉGEP, à la limite, les échanger contre quelque chose d’intéressant (car les universitaires de McGill peuvent effectivement procéder à des échanges), mais en vain… rien à faire…à moins que par un heureux hasard, les livres que vous détenez né soient étudiés à ladite université.
En revanche, vous aurez la chance de survoler une rare et substantielle collection d’ouvrages poétiques et philosophiques. La librairie détient plusieurs anciennes éditions littéraires pratiquement impossibles à retrouver ailleurs. C’est à se demander comment ils font pour s’approvisionner d’autant de trouvailles.
Passez-​vous le mot…