A Tale of Two Bookshops: Bookbarn International and Wonder Book

A friend’s wedding in Bristol last Saturday provided the perfect opportunity for a return visit to Bookbarn International, a terrific secondhand bookshop near Bath in northeast Somerset. Between the stock on their shelves and in the warehouse from which they sell online, they have millions of books, and all the ones in the shop are either £1 or 50 pence (children’s books and, when I went, all paperback fiction as a summer reading promotion). It’s like heaven for this bibliophile. I first went a couple years ago on the way back from Cornwall – although, on both occasions, my longsuffering husband protests, Bookbarn wasn’t really ‘on the way’ in any sense.

First visit in June 2013

Well worth the detour, though, as Bookbarn is basically the British equivalent of my beloved Wonder Book, a chain with several branches in Maryland. I first encountered the store when my sister worked for WHAG television station in Hagerstown, and when I chose to go to college in Frederick, I wouldn’t say that the town’s two Wonder Book branches (one has since closed, alas) were a deciding factor, but they were certainly a bonus. I even worked there as a part-time book assistant during my senior year at Hood College, and it didn’t quite spoil my love for the place – though I’ll admit it’s much better to be a customer than an employee.

The Frederick location (photo from their website).

Say it ain’t so! You never know what you’ll find in terms of categorization at Wonder Book.

I’ve lived abroad for over eight years now, but I still manage to get back to Wonder Book once or twice a year during visits to family. Like Bookbarn, it’s an enormous warehouse-like place with dozens of different categories and subcategories of books, most at very reasonable prices. Again like Bookbarn, it’s the kind of place where you’ll need to allow time to root around, since within sections the books might not be in perfect alphabetical order. The stock rolls over so quickly or, especially in the case of theology, is so overwhelmingly large that there’s just no way to sensibly organize it all. Come with a list, but be willing to browse at a leisurely pace and let serendipity guide you as much as the subject headings. You’ll also find snacks and book-themed gifts such as (at Wonder Book anyway) mugs and T-shirts.

On this last visit to Bookbarn I got 18 books for all of £12 – bargain! Pictured below are my purchases, minus the ones certain readers or their children might be getting for birthday or Christmas presents later in the year…

For the greatest concentration of wonderful bookshops in one place, I can’t recommend Hay-on-Wye, Wales highly enough (see my article on Book Towns for more). See also Jen Campbell’s The Bookshop Book for more ideas of bookshops to seek out wherever your travels take you.

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Are you a devoted secondhand book shopper? What are some of your favorite bookshops in the United States, United Kingdom, or further afield?