Commonwealth Books

Wonderful spot for rare, out of print and usually difficult to locate scholarly publications. They’ve a fantastic artwork and art history section, a fine choice of French history and a little but refreshing collection of ancient history texts. I picked up a like new out of print book publication on Cleopatra here last weekend. I also love just browsing about.

LOVE this place. the man who works there’s always friendly, and looks to be actually committed to what he does since he likely does not make that much money doing it. I adore going here on a rainy day with a coffee and merely looking through the odds and ends, not actually hunting for anything in particular.

I honestly came here because I knew there was a cat who likes to hang around here. Don’t get me wrong — I absolutely love bookstores. But the way to my heart is through cute animals. So I made a point to stop here. Although Dusty seemed a little cranky when I went, he put up with the small petting session I gave him. He’s a very mellow fellow.
I did take a little while to look around. It’s got floor to ceiling shelves of all kinds of used books, mostly on the older side. I was especially enthused by the music biography section, since I am a classical musician myself. They didn’t have the composer I was looking for (Mahler), but I did enjoy looking through the other selections.
I didn’t buy anything, but it was a fun experience to get to look around here and give Dusty some SoCal love. I’ll definitely stop by on my next trip!

This review is for Leonardo DeKittie… he is the king of the bookstore. He showed me this book which I purchased, 1rst edition in 1916…

When John, below, wrote that this place «looks like a shop in Diagon Alley», he hit the nail on the head. This bookstore is straight out of a movie, with its old-​world charm and nooks and crannies and labyrinth-​like interior and floor-​to-​ceiling shelving crammed with books. It’s exactly what I’d mentally conjure up when thinking of a bookstore in an old, historic part of Boston.
My kids and I stumbled in here when the youngest said she needed a Latin-​English dictionary and we saw the sign for this bookstore. It was meant to be, that we’d find this place. And the gentleman inside, upon hearing what we needed, proceeded to lead us, through the narrow maze of book-​filled aisles, immediately to the book we needed. How awesome to find such an esoteric book, so quickly, and the price was really reasonable too. (All the books here are used, or are super-​old/​antique books).
The store ships books anywhere in the US, so you don’t need to shlep your purchases home, if you’re a visitor to the city. I believe they are open 7 days a week, too.
There were lots of bins of old etchings and prints, too.
We all wished we had more time, as we could’ve spent the whole day exploring this gem of a store!

I fell in love with this bookstore the first time I saw the big orange cat curled up by the fireplace. A great place to go and browse and so cozy in the winter. It has a really fun selection of rare books, old circulars and pamphlets, and antique maps. The only reason I give it for stars instead of five is that the prices can be a little high. It’s completely worth exploring, though.

One of the larger used bookshops, although not very organized although we might blame that one the customers throwing books here and there. Anyway, they have a very cool collection of old architectural prints from local building, maps, etc that were neat. Weren’t able to find any books we were looking for but it was fun to look around.

One of the coolest bookstores I’ve ever been in. More spacious than the outside would imply, and every nook and cranny has a book. There’s even a local resident cat named Dusty! While I’m putting inexpensive for the price ($) they do have rare antique books that range into the thousands. While they didn’t have the books I was looking for, I’d definitely come back here, even just to browse around. It’s just a great place in general. They have books in English, Spanish, French, German, and I’m sure some other languages that I didn’t see.

It’s tucked away in an alley just off Washington St, and dwarfed by all the buildings around it. Looks like a shop in Diagon Alley. There’s a store cat who lets you pat him. You can browse here for hours; old maps and prints, old books. Staff can be a little prickly.

Hang out here, sit on the floor and just read for hours, buy a pile of interesting books. Great place.

Very helpful and friendly. Stumbled in here on a rainy blustery day and found treasures. Manager/​sales man was knowledgable and I was able to find the used book I wanted. You just never know what you’ll stumble across.

Great bookstore! They have a great, eclectic mix of used, rare, and antiquarian books here. It’s mostly well organized even as the shelves and floor appear to be overflowing. A wonderful place to wander and browse.
In contrast to what another reviewer has written, I don’t think that their inventory is so vast that you can guarantee that a title you’re looking for will be here. It’s not really a place to go to hunt down something specific, more of a place to discover a treasure you didn’t know existed. Also be aware that they do not carry children’s books.
Best of all: there is always a cat dozing in the shop, either in the front window (see pictures) or toward the back near the fiction section. These people clearly understand that books and cats are a natural pairing. What’s better than being able to reach down and give a friendly pet to a sleeping cat as you browse through shelves of old books?
Located in the Downtown Crossing area, this is the perfect alternative for those who are allergic to the shopping mall/​chain stores located further down Washington St.

Just walked in to find a book, didn’t realize it was a used book store and asked the woman if they had what I was looking for and she goes, well is it fiction?” And I said «no, non fiction». She replies «well I’VE never heard of it, I can’t help you if you don’t know what it’s about.» *insert very pretentious tone*
Isn’t the reason you read books to figure out what it’s about? Sorry you’re having a terrible day lady but cmon. The customer service was just glaringly rude and disdainful. I’m the loudest on my soap box about supporting local businesses but when it comes to her and this exchange, I’d rather shop at Barnes and Noble – at least they pretend to like me for the 5 minutes I’m spending money in the store. Off to Trident to find my damn book and have a beer while I’m at it.

This place is almost magical to any booklover. Lots of books everywhere, piles on the floor; literary quotes and pictures taped to empty spaces on the shelves. Beautiful matted maps and pictures for sale. Rare and unusual books for sale… or view in glass cases. The cat’s name is Dusty. The owner was really friendly and very helpful.

Not sure how this is my first visit here, but I was happy to stumble upon it after walking by one weekend afternoon. It turns out that it’s a pretty dangerous place for me and my wallet to frequent at the same time, however. I think my husband was about to forcibly remove me from the store. It really suggests the age old dilemma: books or a downpayment? One needs space to house one’s books, but it’s really a chicken-​egg situation.
I will be back to drool over their 17^th, 18^th, and 19^th century history sections– house or no house.

What a great bookstore! I wish I had the time to visit the other location while I was there, but this one was more than enough to make me happy. A huge fiction collection with many unusual titles, including a special section for modern firsts. I picked up a beautiful copy of The Obscene Bird of Night by the Chilean writer José Donoso for a very reasonable price. I’ll definitely visit both locations on my next trip to Boston.

This place just makes me feel happy. Most bookstores have that effect on me, but this is the kind of place that you feel lost in just after a few minutes of looking around. And then stay for a few hours. When you finally emerge, the world has gone on spinning, but you feel like time just stopped for you and all the books.
They’ve got something for everyone. And they offer shipping for those travelers like myself who could fill suitcases with books alone. I love supporting independent booksellers and the history in this place is really cool with their first editions and vintage books. So cool.

A wonderful little hidden gem tucked in a pocket of downtown Boston. Shelves overflowing with books and stacks of books on the floor. You’re bound to pick one up that interests you and flip through it which means you could lose yourself for hours just browsing through their collections.
What makes me love these little independent bookstores is when there’s this one book that just eludes me — I walk into a hundred different local bookstores (used/​new/​independent or even larger chains like B&N) and they just don’t have a copy of that darn book I want — and then I walk into this one (thousands of miles away from home), ask for it and they instantly know what book you’re talking about (without the help of a computer!) and even though everything Seems disorganized they lead you straight to it within seconds. It seriously all went down in less than 30 seconds. It’s amazing!

This is one of the only true bookstores for real bibliophiles. Do not expect your typical selection of pop-​lit here. This is as eclectic as a bookstore gets. If you’ve read «The Club Dumas», this is the kind of bookstore you might have found in the pages of that book.
In addition to their huge selection of vintage, first edition, autographed, and used books, they have a gorgeous selection of vintage and fine-​looking reproduction prints from the 18^th — 19^th century, all suitable for framing. They’re not inexpensive, but for vintage artwork, their prices are certainly reasonable.
The staff are friendly and knowledgeable, and always willing to help. This is a semi-​hidden gem that shines despite its location in a wee side-​street in downtown crossing. Discover it for yourself, you won’t regret it!

Randomly stopped in here today for the first time and was immediately in love. While Commonwealth may not present itself in the same way chain bookshops do, it has infinite treasures and way more charm.
The owner is a very nice and knowledgeable man who seems to have a very good idea of all the items he stocks at any particular moment (which is no small number).
The prices here are so reasonable and the used books are in great quality.
I wish that I had endless amounts of time to roam free in the store!