Shakespeare & Company Books

First Cody’s, and now Shakespeare & Co is closed??? Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!
This place has been a Telegraph staple for YEARS. Before I was even born! Whenever I came in here, I’m instantly greeted by the aroma of old books and history. I loved spending hours here getting lost in the shadows of the fiction section and seeing what treasures I could find. I’ve had picture books bought from this place when I was a kid, so I’m incredibly sad to see that this is now closed. I didn’t even get to step into this place one last time.
What a bittersweet farewell, Shakespeare & Co. ;_​_​_​_​;

Treasure! If the smell of old books and knowledge hidden from the general public makes your brain tingle with euphoria, this place is a must. If Barns and Noble makes you contemplate suicide, this bookshop will help you to understand why you were right to feel that way. If you are looking for a gem, that your friends will ponder with amazement and curiosity, this is the spot. If you are looking to gift a book to someone who reads for knowledge and not that run of the mill paperback swill you’ll find anywhere else, this shop will exceed your expectations. I cannot rate this book store highly enough. There are not enough words to express my gratitude for establishments that persevere over the hive’s craving for a collective trough that displaces and snuffs uniqueness. This place is truly unique. I wish them longevity.

This is a really great bookstore. They have all kinds of subjects and years of books. I got a really cool 20s Motor Boys book and at a great price. I really feel that this bookstore will continue to offer some great books at great prices. It has that dusty bookstore feel that I love. Their vintage book collection is spread throughout the store, and is pretty much the biggest I have ever seen. My only gripe is that is isn’t well lit, but it dosen’t really matter. I hope this store stays in business for a long time, and continues to offer books to the community.

LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS PLACE! Tons of fascinating books of any genre you can think of!!! Great selection and just a great feeling and positive vibes reading in this place. I love to shop here, their books are very reasonably priced and every experience I have here is a pleasant one! I just keep coming back!

its one of the two bookstores left on telegragh. when i was a grad student 16 years ago there were eight bookstores on telegraph. my how the market has changed. they have a really limited selection and they can be pretty expensive for a used book store. one time i went there and chose some of this discount books and instead the the $ 2 the were supposed to be they charged me $ 5 each. not cool, even though i paid it. its one of the few bookstores left but its not big enough that you should expect to find anything you need

Of course it doesn’t compare to the good old shake&co in Paris, but their summer sale this past summer turned me into a convert.
Yes, they usually only have a few works from authors– sometimes a work considered to be the worst– but they’re always so cheap! I bought four book from here for only 9 dollars.
It’s always insanely quiet, so you can really get lost in the world of books here. I’ve bought works by Nabokov, Henry miller, Sartre, and anais nin here. They also sell children’s books, science fiction, and more.

Great location. There’s a sense of wonder just being in the place. A wonderful name too, of course.
Wish I’d gotten to know the store and those who work there (they seem nice enough) better, but I’ve only been in a handful of times over the years (unfortunately I’ve never bought anything, and never sold either). While I enjoy perusing the whole store, the kid’s section by the window is my favorite part of the store. It’s a serene spot in a part of Berkeley that’s usually anything but.
Definitely worth it to check out if you’re in the area.

Let me just say that I come from Orange County, where chainstores are altogether way too common. So it’s so refreshing to find a used bookstore like this that has a lot of character. They have tall wooden shelving with books in every nook and cranny. Their prices are fair for used books, but I have found better prices for the same condition online though. I think being able to walk through the shelves and open up books to leaf through the pages gives you such a wonderful experience though that it’s worth the few extra pennies it costs you for an already discounted book.
Thank you Shakespeare and Company for keeping hardcopy books alive.

Now that Adobe in San Francisco has ‘evolved,’ though forcibly, into something I no longer known, this has become my favorite Bay Area bookstore (that is, of course, excluding the greatest bookstore in the world: San Francisco’s Kayo Books). As great as Moe’s is, I always find at Shakespeare & Company what I can’t find across the street. Also, this store has a far superior smell.

It’s not large, it’s not small– not everything here can be labeled ancient or antique— Especially when BABYMOUSE’s comic chapter book is there in bright pink ‘n white.
Upon entering, the employees weren’t overly happy to see 3 people walk in, nor were we blessed with a ‘hi’ hello’ how d’you do?’ by any employees either.
Children’s book are towards the end, there’s also a section on music sheets, that I found intriguing, but nothing I can note as something I’d like in my classics collection, but I shall head back there to take a look at the other sheet musics that are available.
Small little section on travel books in really good shape, I didn’t get to peruse that area, in which I kind of wish I did, because now I find myself wanting to know how much the slightly used travel guides/​books would cost me should I head back for something.
This place does have a large amount of mystery books, some old some fairly recent.
Before I would head out to Berkeley just to come to this bookstore, I should remind myself, Recycled Books down the Alameda has a lot more choices an more close by to me than an hour away.
Parking is if you’re lucky you find one on the street, if not, you go a few blocks for a parking garage.

QUALITY book shop. They actually pay decent for your much loved books and will give even more if you choose credit, which I usually do. GREAT selection, probably Berkeley’s best book shop, the lady (Owner?) is a pearl.

My last experience with Shakespeare Books was completely disappointing. I give them 2 stars instead of one because I would feel bad if they went out of business. However, before I even looked at one book, the service made me turn around and leave. The woman at the counter made a snide comment and I didn’t even bother. I expected more. Very disappointed.

I love this bookstore. Lots of fond memories of walking through the store full of books from floor to ceiling. I got a great used copy of Les Miserable here. There are a lot of books that you probably wouldn’t be able to find at your local Barnes. I hope this place doesn’t close down, like so many other small shops on Telegraph.

Another nice bookstore on Telegraph … this one across the street and a block down from Moe’s. While Moe’s gets four stars, this one earns three. Nice selection of books, but the layout is a bit cramped and some of the books are stacked way up and relatively out of reach. But that said, this is still a stop worth making. Reasonable prices. I only wish they’d provide a bit more lighting.

Shakespeare houses books in a building that used to be a domicile. this naturally leads to a shortage of space to display many titles. Shakespeare has the usual categories but same categories showcases the usual old line «names» plus some hot authors.
i can usually find interesting books here but not the book i was looking for.
reads: working (4) studs terkel
-$ 35 for hardcover? passed.
looseleafs:
–really cramped here
–can easily bump into people inadvertantedly
–old time fav but no more.
–expect to pay 50% of list price.

Institutional veneration aside, what you have here is a pretty good used book store, with some quirky parts to it, such as the collection of old sci-​fi paperbacks. There’s a childrens’ corner, which I appreciated, and many books very high up out of reach all over. One of the things which distinguish a bookstore is how much the layout is conducive to browsing, how eye-​catching the assortment is, etc. I found this store to be about middle-​of-​the-​road in that regard. The shelving is rather labyrinthine. Still, I found a couple of things there.

GREAT bookstore. You come to a place like this and realize how rare it is to find such amazing bookstores nowadays. Shame the big ones like Borders and Barnes & Noble took over :(Oh well, I guess Borders got what it deserved!
Diverse selection, nice layout. Not the most organized store (tried to find a Mapplethorpe book but gave up after 15 minutes because it seemed like none of the books were organized properly).
The women’s studies section was slightly disappointing and I was also surprised that the store clerk didn’t know who Judith Butler was when I asked for some help finding Antigone’s Claim (which they didn’t carry).
I walked away from my trip to Shakespeare & Co. with a $ 4 used compilation piece of Hemingway’s short stories and poetry, which I’m really looking forward to diving in to. I wish the store had carried Oscar Wilde’s «The Importance of Being Ernest,» which I’ve been trying to get my hands on for months now, but that’s okay… I’ll start a new summer romance with Mr. Hemingway.

My X told me once that a former owner of Shakespeare Books once owned my Albany house and died of a heart attack at the nearby Terrace Park Tennis Courts. Whether that’s true or not, I definitely owe him thanks for some of the internal changes he made to my home that really makes it seem like a roomy place, and with plenty of natural light.
I’m been coming to that guy’s store since the early 1980s, when visiting Berkeley Book Stores (staring on Telegraph) was a daylong adventure — rain or shine. Shakespeare Books has only changed marginally over those 30 years, even though this section of Telegraph has taken a turn for the worse. There are still used, remaindered, and rare books stacked everywhere in 3 dimensions, along with reasonable prices and a few bargains along the way. The selection remains strongest in the areas of fiction, art, the humanities, and literary knowledge by some of the folks who work here. And if you look deep (or high) enough it’s always possible to find yet another treasure. It’s also one of those places that seems disorganized, but has everything in it’s proper (and owner searchable) place.
And just like Kinky Friedman’s lyric that «They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore», the same goes for Berkeley Book Stores like Shakespeare & Company.

In an era where print has been devalued by society to the extent that Cody’s on Telegraph and Black Oak Books in North Berkeley have both shut their doors since I graduated from Cal in 2004… I am beyond relieved to see Shakespeare & Co. still standing.
I’m not surprised that this place is still standing, either. This tiny, slightly dusty, but dignified store is a treasure trove of priceless print ranging from the pedestrian to the esoteric. This is a place where you can walk in as a local Bay Area high schooler, a college freshman, a college senior, a visitor, an alum, a professor, or an elderly eccentric and find something dear to your heart every time for prices cheaper than what you see at some yard sales nowadays.
Whoever is working at the front at any given time is like a benevolent guard of literacy itself, and knows when to chat with you if searching for something abstract, or to give practical help if you are looking for something specific. After so many afternoons here straining my neck looking down at sheet music and up at classics, I get an ache to go back whenever I am near the Bay.
This is more than a bookstore; it’s a real place that is as tangible as the books held within. Given this, who honestly cares if the shelves aren’t as anally organized as a Borders franchise.

I went strolling around Berkeley/​Telegraph Ave. area yesterday. The last time I was here was back in the summer of 2007. I went to both Moe’s and Shakespear Co.
– this place is much smaller, dustier and less bright and cheerful as Moe’s. But I bet there are more Used books here, or maybe pricing is probably be cheaper here?
a great place to just wander into, and if I ever have anything specific in mind, I will drop by here. =)