Old Julian Book House

I’m going to say it. We skipped this store this time around after coming here for years. And in years I mean more than 20. The gentleman that owns this store is kind of grumpy and gets a little upset when the kids look at the books. No, this is not everyone else’s experience but it’s been ours.

Cute bookstore nestled in the woods.
Bought a 40^th anniversary edition of ‘to kill a mockingbird’ yesterday. The gentleman at the front desk was very kind.
Great experience.

This is a clean and organized old school used bookstore. They don’t do on line sales. The books are well organized and easy to look through. The place has that aroma that books bring, however there is no musty smell. The guy behind the counter was pleasant and helpful to a very unconscious customer, me.
If you are a lover of books, and like to browse this place is a great way to escape the ticky tacky of Julian. Nothing against the tourist focused world just sayin’.

Really like to support this place. The owner is really nice and friendly. I also like it when I get to spot the book kitty. Great selection of books. You can tell the owner really cares about his business which makes the experience really sweet!

The husband and I were visiting Julian and, being the bookworms we are, we were drawn here. We picked up books by our favorite authors. The staff was friendly and welcoming.

A really nice used book store. The owner/​staff are helpful and very friendly. An important piece of a good bookstore is that it is well organized — this one is, I like that. While you are not going to find a collection of rare first-​editions you will find plenty of good reading material at a modest price — some of the prices are a little high considering how available a lot of the books are at other places.

We stopped by to browse for a minute and hide from July heat. It is obvious the store used to be a house, and it is pretty cool how books are located in different rooms (and divided by genre, of course). My friend was able to find a couple of books he had been looking for and I discovered a box of old postcards for .25¢ each — score! Most of them were from the 50’s and 60’s and some were way too cool. The owner was really kind and offered me to pay with the change he had in the jar, so my postcards ended up being free. This small thing kind of made my day :)
I also noticed they take credit cards and don’t want you to bring drinks in!

It would be a sin not to visit this book house.
And it most definitively feels like a house – warm and inviting. I showed up at closing time, and was still admitted!
I was in search of some Kafka, and found it, which is a terrific sell for me.
It’s a great book house to simply walk around and stand amazed at the diversity of books and thought that surround us — -sometimes literally…

Nice
Owner
And very
Organized which
Can be rare for used books. Worth a gander.

Nice cozy bookstore with a good selection of books, very well organized and the owners are very nice and helpful. This isn’t a cluttered bookstore at all.
There are lots of people that stop in and they hang out and browse while they wait for their reservations and the nearby restaurants.
However, most used bookstores have prices that reflect being used while this place has prices that are comparable to a regular bookstore. Most used bookstores I’ve been to they generally sell their books for half the published price or they sell mass markets for $ 1 or something like that. I felt bad cause me and my wife left because the prices were just too high.

Cozy little bookstore with charmingly squeaky old fashioned wood floors.
Tons of romance novels here (not what I came for, I swear) and a good looking science fiction fantasy corner. Wish this place was closer.
Run by an awesome retired teacher. Drop in for the conversation. Offer him some pie.
Because I’m sure he doesn’t get enough of that, working directly across the street from the Julian Pie company.
Seriously. Do it.

An amazing collection of rare/​old books as well as the latest paperbacks. Definitely worth a stop in if you’re in town

Old bookstores quench my thirst for serendipity. I like to find local, historic treasures to add to my mental museum — like the book I saw sitting on the table when you first walk in. «Marshal South and the Ghost Mountain Chronicles» the story of a local man who ‘lived primitive’.
I’m a fan because this is a brick and mortar bookstore and I hope to still see these around when I’m 60! But its not a 5-​star bookstore; I need to see something with a Taschen cover to meet that requirement. OK, maybe not that specific. But the first time I went in there it was really cold from the AC and so dusty that my friend walked out. Second time I went neither of these issues surfaced so maybe that’s just every so often.
Still, a pleasant place to wander a few minutes or drop a few bucks on a rare find.
Thanks Book House. that was fun.

Love this place. They have a great selection of books with a lot of unique items. They have a decent selection of old hardcover books. The best part about this place is the owner who helped us. He was very kind and made you feel like you were walking into his living room where he just happened to be selling a bunch of books. Next time I’m in town, I’m gonna make it a point to stop by here.

Great book store! Very organized with rare books. The owner was very nice & informative.

Whenever I visit a new town, I always try to find their local independent bookstore. I’m a big reader and I have an entire wall of books in my sardine can-​sized apartment. With that said, the Old Julian Book House is an amazing little shop; an old house converted into a quaint bookstore. Room after room filled floor to ceiling with used books; from obscure vintage titles, classics, to contemporary works.
This bookstore has been around for about 29 years and since 2003, has been run by a lovely married couple. I met Don and he told me about how he and his wife wanted to keep bookstores alive. They’re retired teachers from Diamond Bar who decided to move to Julian, and in the past few years, they’ve been one of the best places to find rare books dating back over 100 years.
The Book House is brimming with gems. Three bedrooms, the front room, front porch, and adjoining room (which I would assume was the dining room) are all filled with books. Near the register, bagged and preserved century old collectible books prices at ¹⁄₃^rd what you would find them for online. A cute little garden with a table and chairs to read in make for a wonderful book shopping experience. A must-​try for book lovers.

We went to Julian for the apple pie, but a trip to Julian is never without visiting the Book House. I love bookstores like this — I’ve been to another one in Beaverton, Oregon — where they turned a house into a used bookstore. The books are organized and there are 3 rooms that holds the fiction, scifi/​fantasy, self help, etc and then there’s the main room as you enter for the specialty books and YA/​Kids books, etc. The owners are friendly and they don’t bother you much when you check out the shelves. I personally like that because most book people like being lost in the world of books :) It’s a very charming store.

This is a creaky bookstore built in an old house with no room for strollers and probably not really handicapped accessible either, come to think of it. I like places like this, even if I don’t find anything I want to get, just on the principle of liking old houses that are covered wall to wall in books. It is well-​organized. The children’s section is very very tiny, occupying the spot in front of the cash register, which my kids were somewhat disappointed with. But it’s a charming store and worth a stroll through if you’re in the town.

As other reviewers have stated, this bookstore is a very organized used bookstore. The prices here are a bit high, but you’ll have to determine that for yourself if you find that hard-​to-​find book you’ve been searching for. It’s just a fun place to visit when you’re in the Julian area.

Some people come to Julian for the pie… well, okay, I come for the pie too, but I ALSO come for the Book House. This is one of my favorite used book stores ever (and I know from book stores!). The layout is an old house with room after room of book shelves. It’s a reader’s dream come true. They have a extensive collection of travel books, but also a great place to find pop culture, history, and sociology texts.
I remember the prices being a little more reasonable during past trips, but it’s still considered a great deal, no matter the price, if you find the right book. As an example, my latest buy was a Fodor’s Hawaii guide book from 1961 in great condition for $ 1.98.