Raven Used Books

This is one of the best book stores I have visited, with an amazing range of books for great prices. The shop focuses on academic and literary works, with particular strengths in fiction, philosophy, and history. There are also strong selections in art and religion. A discount cart features books for $ 2.95 or less. With a stamp card, after you spend $ 100, you get 20% off a purchase. Note that the store is somewhat small, so it can be difficult to find books that are either popular or relatively rare. Even with this constraint, you’ll find tons of interesting books to read here.

Very friendly staff with a well-​curated selection of books tucked in a small space. Raven has two locations and both are well-​stocked and well-​serviced. There isn’t any room for sitting and browsing so be aware of that. The prices are reasonable and the books are in great condition.

Did a little tour around Boston looking for used bookstores and Raven might be worth stopping in if you’re in the area, but it’s really just a small room of newer used books. So if you’re looking for anything older or more niche than general audience type books, I wouldn’t go out of your way to come here.

Moderately sized used and new book store with well-​curated selections for brainy types. Fairly priced, too. I also sold a ton of books to Raven when I was moving cross-​country, and the experience was generally seamless.
The one qualm I have is that the service is a bit meh — they seem to employ numerous lit-​type guys who think they’re too cool for school. Some friendliness would do them good!
Recommended for browsing and purchasing both.

I stopped in Cambridge during my big romp around the Boston area. I was looking for a tea shop, and happened to find there was a book store in the spot nearly beneath it! As bookstores and beverage stores are my mainstay, I quickly stopped in to see if I could obtain some reading material before I sat down for a drink.
The categories are pretty straight forward, and it’s nice to find a used shop that goes through the trouble of breaking up its wares in some fashion. Within the categories things got a little more murky, so if you’re looking for something in particular you may be browsing for a while. The selection overall was decent, but I ended up not making a purchase on this visit (get some more books on Asian cinema!).
Prices varied considerably, but other than the tendency for newer books to cost more, I couldn’t immediately determine a methodology. Possibly based off of the most recent Amazon/​ebay price, some of the books seemed to be clocking in a little to high for my taste. But since there were just as many good deals in other cases, the shop averages out overall. The impression I got was that the store was a small-​time chain, complete with minor merchandise and multiple locations. Not the best used book store I’ve seen in the whole area, but worth a stop if you’re hitting Cambridge.

Friendly place.
Excellent curated philosophy section!
A must stop.
Also grab a Tshirt

A small shop tucked into Harvard Square with a proportionally modest selection, but it’s well curated and the stock rotates quickly. Books often seem to find there way here from the MIT Press loading dock sale, in case you miss that on you calendar.

Awesome little used bookshop tucked away on JFK St. off of Harvard Square. It’s small, but they have a really nice selection of quality used books and a few remainders. Located on the ground floor, it’s dimly lit with low ceilings. Browsing the crowded wooden shelves here can feel a little bit like poking around a (well-​organized) basement or attic. I mean that as a compliment because that’s what makes this place fun. But don’t go there expecting it to look like Barnes and Noble. In short, good books + character = win.

What a great selection of books. It’s a smaller then most Cambridge used bookstores, but I found it to be really well organized.
Great staff and open late

Very nice bookstore just a short distance from Harvard Square. Open late. Was able to find a number of German titles. Don’t let the size of the store deceive you, they have a lot of books.

Please note: My last visit to this place was in 2012 so please also read the more recent reviews to get a sense of what this place is like now.
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This was, without a doubt, one of my favorite places in Boston/​Cambridge and I miss it dearly! There are two Raven shops, one on Newbury St and one in Harvard Sq. I personally loved the one in Harvard Sq more cause they had all the eclectic, foreign (they had the original French version of Camus’ works), academic, and literary books. The one on Newbury had somewhat more contemporary titles, though this isn’t the place to go if you’re looking for YA or popular fiction. (Twilight fans, shoo!) But, if you love classics, random scholarly titles, and foreign literature, this bookstore will be heaven for you. The Newbury branch is also housed in a nicer, newer space, whereas the Harvard Sq branch is housed in a fairly bare basement with concrete floors and untreated walls (which in my opinion has it’s own charm).
The book keepers at both these branches are also some of the nicest bookstore owners you’ll ever meet. You will leave this place with a book in your hands and a smile on your face. (Only thing that saddened me about this bookstore was the fact that there was barely any seating — I think there were 1 or 2 arm chairs in the Harvard Sq branch. Well, there are plenty of benches and cafes both along Newbury and in Harvard Sq so it’s not a big deal at all.)
Book selection: ³⁄₅ — their stock is fairly limited, as all used books stores, but they have a decent enough selection depending on what genres you’re looking through
Atmosphere: ⁴⁄₅ — I personally think it’s a great cave-​like space but some people may be turned off by the hole-​in-​the-​wall feel, complete with untreated cement walls and floors, and visible piping.
Prices: ⁵⁄₅ — great prices, especially for the academic titles
Service: ⁵⁄₅ — extremely helpful and welcoming
Overall: ⁵⁄₅ — exceptional!

I love-​hate this place so f**king much.
So, I walk in and I’m feeling pretty good ’cause I’m an academic, loosely. I’m roaming around the shelves and seeing all the names of people that I have second-​hand-​cited in the linguistics section.
And lo and behold… the cashier is not some kindlelovingmassmarketpaperbacktwilightjerk but a real connoisseur of books, used books, rare books, all things books. And ideas! And thinking! And transcendence (the enlightening period in our history, not the mediocre Johnny Depp movie)!
And he was speaking to someone about Buddhism who was just starting to «get into» Buddhism
(don’t you love that beginning of getting into something when you wanna talk about it and read about it and watch movies about it for days at a time until you get bored and don’t want to feel like a failure so you keep at it reluctantly?)
Well she was all sorts of into listening to him and asking him questions and he was just full of Buddhism information be it because of reading or because he was a Buddhist himself.
And then, another guy came in to pick up about ten books he had ordered and chimed in… and the cute, slightly intellectual conversation that I was eavesdropping on suddenly became a mind blowing intellectual endeavor that I was totally unprepared for. He was talking about Marxist influences, and in-​transitory (or was it transitory?) nature of religions… and I died inside because this was a Harvard bookstore and I wanted to go home to watch 11 episodes of Psych.
But as they say in the UK, this beautiful bookshop (pe — to add a touch of class) does exactly what it says on the tin. Harvard Bookstore. Expect to be terrified.

accidentally stumbled upon this place while sightseeing around harvard square. the books under this roof are as good as new and they are all half off!!!
great selection of reads and strategically organized by genre so everything was easy to find. highly recommended if you’re ever visiting harvard.

Great, quiet, and organized bookstore for when you don’t have an agenda. The fiction section sports many wonderful paperbacks, and there’s even a small book rack with clearance options.
For when you do have an agenda though… how frustrating it is to go into every used book store in Harvard Square and not find what you want. Raven and the rest of them did not deliver when I was looking for used copies of The Remains of Day or The Corrections. I am a fan of supporting local businesses, so when I really want to own a copy of something, I’ll go to great lengths in my neighborhood before shopping online. I ended up buying something I don’t love/​want/​need, so I kinda wish I just went to the library first.
Come here with caution! Be open to risk and disappointment as well as happiness and bargain prices!

I’ve only been here once, but walked away with several gems at really really good prices (1^st printing hard cover in great shape of a kurt Vonnegut work for 10 bucks). They had a sign on their wall that indicated their prices are generally ½ that as those from the publishers, and that’s no lie. They have great titles and a large and interesting art book collection, which is a rarity these days when it comes to used stores. The clerk had great taste in music as well!
Raven is a Friendly and interesting place in which you will no doubt find great additions to your home library.

Okay, it’s a basement. With overpriced used books. But it’s a HARVARD SQUARE basement, so I get that they’re a tourist trap AND catering to the rich kids at Harvard at a the same time. I get that. Rent’s gotta be high here, even for a basement.
But don’t make that my problem.
I came in here to peruse some dusty book jackets and get out of the whipping cold winds Winter Storm Pluto pushed our way. I had just finished a chocolate from LA Burdicks and needed the warmth still, so I was surprised when the guy behind the counter told me to throw away my drink.
Like I said, I just finished it. Like, I threw it away before I came in. I didn’t have a beverage container on my person.
The guy apologized but insisted I smelled so strongly of it that he thought I had it on me.
OKAY, BECAUSE THAT IS A TOTALLY GOOD EXCUSE.
Anyway, I booked it (no pun intended) around the shelves in record time. There wasn’t much of note there, anyway, except for the way they use the radiators as book stands for the too-​small shelves. Hurray for tourist traps, literally — if the guy at the counter doesn’t put the fear of death in you, the potential fire trap might.
There are dozens of better used book stores in Boston, and the library is free. I won’t be coming back here.

When I used to live in Cambridge, I would frequent Raven Used Books. It’s your classic college town used book store. It’s underground (ish), small, old, but with its charm. Whether you want to kill time or find used books, it’s a nice little spot to search for books on your list or discover new & hidden treasures. The prices are reasonable as well.
As a fan of used book stores, I would definitely recommend this place!

Raven Used Books is exactly what you would hope to find in college neighborhood — it smells like old paper and coffee and is easily a place that you could lose yourself in book looking. The shelves are simple pine wood and overflow with options to choose from. Given that they specialize in academic and scholarly material — their selection of fiction was fantastic with both well known and not-​so selections.
It has real charm. The pricing seemed fair and reasonable for the selection.

When I come to Boston, I always make a point to stop here in Cambridge to pick up a book or two. Don’t go to the Harvard Co-​Op, it’s only good for new releases that tend to be two or three more in the store than at your
or Barnes and Noble retailer anywhere else. Truth.
Come to Raven instead, where you can find an awesome selection of books ranging from all different types of disciplines and genres. I copped an urban studies, photo-​filled awesome book on Montréal in the 1960s here for $ 20…when it originally retails for $ 55. Can’t complain!
If you’re a bookworm, this is one place you must go when in Boston/​Cambridge. It’s a little off the grid, but the easiest way to get here is if you take the 66 bus conveniently located on JFK Street. Red Line at Harvard is close by as well.

In those moments when I fear Harvard Square is becoming a home for ATM machines and burrito stores, I remember Raven and smile.
Love this small basement shop packed with books. Love that they have so many current, interesting, well-​priced academic books (social theory section, hooray!). Love that they only buy good books (second hand bookstores, please note that this, I think, is the key to survival. No one wants to pick through piles of crap to find a good book. Customers want to see lots of good books that indicate some intelligence and aesthetic on the part of the buyer).
Points for always having amazing art books, points for that really nice guy who works there lots of times (shaved light hair, very friendly), points for good music, points for that big comfy green chair in the art section, points for the terrific music section and the great books on jazz.
Raven, please continue to just absolutely rock it.