Dan Webb Books

Not really my type of bookstore. There’s a huge focus on the military, history, and car/​plane/​boat models. They’ve got a tiny little literature section, and what they had wasn’t bad, but it was very limited.
The guy working seemed super nice, and there were a bunch of older guys just hanging around reading or chatting. Honestly, if the aforementioned genres are your type of thing, I’m sure this place is straight up fantastic.

I am a huge book collector. Anywhere I go, everyplace I live, and every city am in I scour for used book stores.
I have been going to Dan Webb Books for years, since it was located over on Grand Ave in fact. Dan is a wonderful person, an absolute character and a wonderful part of the Oakland community. He is the face of the locally owned and run store. He buys books from patrons and sells them to his customers at very reasonable prices helping both in the process. What could be better than that?
Dan Webb carries a wide range of subjects including a special emphasis on history, military history, military technology, aviation and railways. He carries books on all topics including fiction and non-​fiction but unlike most used book stores military history isn’t just an afterthought but a well sorted and well stocked section. He also carries a huge amount of interesting magazines in related areas as well. For modelers he even carries a few better quality model kits. I never fail to find something I am interested in whenever I visit.
Used book stores have been having a rough time for many years, Dan Webb Books has weathered that storm mostly intact. I highly recommend stopping by regardless of your interest but ESPECIALLY if you have an interest in military history. His store is not to be missed as there is really nothing else like it around.

Great place to check out old books. I go there weekly because new «old» stuff arrives constantly and you may get good bargains. Dan accepts PayPal by the way.

Lucky to have this place so close the the office.
An old book lover haunt, not for the prim and proper. Lots of musty old hardcovers to peruse, great prices and a friendly owner. Look for new fiction at Amazon, come to Dan Webb for something special.

I found this store via the Unilocal reviews, and spent two hours here today looking through just the naval history section. The store is small, but there is a huge selection of military plane, ship, and tank books and magazines. The books are reasonably priced and beat what I’ve seen at other stores and online at Amazon.

I’ve been to this bookstore a few times, as it is just a few blocks from my residence and I always find some good books. I’m into natural history/​archaeology/​history, and there’s no shortage of those kind of books here. The owner of the store, Dan is very nice and told me he’d be on the lookout of some titles that I was interested in.
The place can be kinda unorganized, but Dan is always apologetic, and since the space isn’t the largest, I can see why it would be disorganized since books are always coming in. Overall, I will keep coming here, and it feels good to support a place that you enjoy.

Great book collection. Dan is very helpful to his customers. When you visit more than once he remembers what type of books you enjoy. Great small town feel in a big city. I love this book store and prices are more than fair. We need more book stores like this everywhere!

Military and history are the bookstore’s strongest subjects for collection. The owner is pretty friendly, and reasonable on buying back books. The new location on 17^th Street is more comfortable for browsing.

It’s basically impossible to complain about any used book store these days, no matter how bad it might be, because having ANY used bookstore around your neighborhood is better than none. But Dan F. Webb’s bookstore is a really good bookstore that I discovered recently. Tons and tons of used books, mostly on aviation and military history but I’ve found all kinds of books there, ones on esoteric spirituality, psychology, ancient history, radical politics, old communist literature etc. Dan the owner is polite and helpful.

This bookstore is near my office and I like going here during lunch time. It’s small, nothing fancy but still gots style in its own way… fun old school vibe that you can never get at any other franchise modern bookstores! :]

The best bookstore for modelers, airplane, ship and military fans I have ever seen– so good they even have a few plastic airplane kits on the shelves! (They probably came in boxes of books…)
The primary focus is aviation subjects, civil and technical as well as military, and military and naval. An interesting assortment of railroad, civil sea-​fairing and boating, and automobile, books and magazines are available, (more than I’ve seen in almost any other store). Stock is sorted into technically focused («The Avro XYZ»), operational histories («Boeing JLKs in the Pacific»), and of course there are a lot of memoirs («The LMN took off at dawn») and proper history («Pacific Air Commerce: The Airbus QRS and the middle class lifestyle of the 1970s»).
Nearly one wall and the very front is more typical used-​bookstore items– literature, physical science, art, mysteries, children’s books, recent titles in hardback and paperback.
The civil aviation section is a whole book case, right by the register, with more titles than you’d typically see in the entire transportation section of a conventional book store. Airframe and engine development are another whole bookcase. «RAF, Battle of Britain» and «Luftwaffe, Battle Of Britain» are separate shelves.
In the core stock there is a free mix of rare, out of print, ubiquitous and new, in-​print works, on the shelves and laid out for easy browsing on the large tables that fill the center of the store. Then there are the boxes of paperback references– Motorbooks, Osprey, Aircam, Kokobura, Schiffer, Airlife, Bunrin-​do and Eastern European titles. And boxes of the Squadron In Action series, model railroad magazines, model airplane magazines, military and figure magazines, model ship magazines. The Naval Institute Proceedings, Air Force Review, rail enthusiast publications, etc. etc.
This is one place you simply have to set a budget for yourself before you go in, because you’ll find more than you can afford (or explain) 9 times out of 10. Mr Webb clearly loves both books and the subjects his store focuses on, and there is frequently a discussion between him and his friends, associates, and down-​town neighbors going on at the front of the store. The shop does buy used books, which are inspected and valued at the front desk. Magazines are not typically bought– the shop is overflowing as it is.
Both Dan and his store are Bay Area treasures and this is, perhaps, the best place of all for the hard-​core Advanced Modeler Syndrome sufferer, because you can get that reference that will allow you to finish something!
My son has accompanied me here from an early age, and he’s been welcomed by Mr Webb every time, which makes me proud of both of them. Polite children will find plenty to look through.
The last things I bought here were Norris and Wagner’s «Boeing
737 –100 and –200», Squadron’s «B-​29 In Action», and a paperback copy of «Is Paris Burning?» for bedtime history/​adventure reading with my aforementioned son.

I have picked up several good vintage industrial books here.
They also have a good collection of art books.

A small bookstore packed to the gills with used books, magazines, and other things. This guy specializes in military books but also has a selection of other types. Also of interest to me are his collection of old maps (lots of gas station maps of the area from the 1960s) as well as his reproductions of old photographs from the Bay Area. I picked up a couple of Key System photos while I was here, very nice. Another thing about this place that’s cool is the atmosphere. Very slow, easy going, almost quiet. There’s usually one or two regulars who come in and seem to stay for hours just trading barbs and obersevations about life with the owner. Almost worth going in just to listen to the banter.