Exeter, the cathedral city of Devon in the South West of England, keeps its core of second-hand book shopping in a tight knot just below the Guildhall. South Street holds Oxfam's dedicated shop for books and music plus a Hospiscare shop built around books, Book-Cycle lets you name your own price on West Street, and the antiques centre on the Quay counts books among its dealers' stock. Up in Cathedral Close, the Devon and Exeter Institution, a members' library, throws its doors open for donated-book sales a few times a year. Prices below are all in British pounds (£).
Out of the centre, a not-for-profit warehouse in Marsh Barton and Matford's Sunday boot sale add cheaper, messier hunting. Topsham, the old estuary port that falls inside the city boundary, is the real detour: a three-storey second-hand bookshop on Fore Street, a 65-dealer antiques warehouse on the quay, and the PBFA's Devon fair in Matthews Hall, back on 15 November 2026. Further out, Killerton, a National Trust estate, has its own second-hand bookshop, Exmouth has an Oxfam for books and records, and Dawlish has a family-run shop on Queen Street.
Down the coast past Dawlish, Teignmouth, at the far end of a 12½-mile run south from the Guildhall, rounds things off with two more: a books-and-music Oxfam on Den Road and Quayside Bookshop on Northumberland Place, a family business that mixes used titles with new ones and keeps a deep transport section.
Charity bookshop (pay what you like)Book-Cycle
7 West St, Exeter EX1 1BB
Tucked away on West Street, roughly 480 yards south-south-west of the Guildhall, this is the original branch of Book-Cycle and the registered address of the volunteer-run charity, which provides free books to children worldwide and hands out trees to help reforest England. Its own site explains the deal: you decide the price, with a daily cap of three items. Sophie Nadeau's Solosophie guide to a weekend in Exeter, last updated on 3 April 2026, picks it out for exactly that pay-whatever-you-want model, and its branch page shows a 6pm close every day but Sunday.
Hours: Mon–Sat 11:30am–6pm, Sun 12:30pm–5:30pmWebsite Oxfam Books & MusicOxfam Books & Music Exeter
97-98 South St, Exeter EX1 1EN
Oxfam's book-and-record branch trades from 97-98 South Street, about 160 yards south of the Guildhall, with Oxfam's clothing-and-homewares shop as its neighbour at number 96. The volunteers, quoted on a copy of the branch page that the Wayback Machine holds from 13 May 2026, promise shelves packed with books for everyone from the serious bibliophile to the casual browser, with music and a few cards besides. No opening grid is posted, so ring 01392 493433 before a special trip.
Charity bookshop (Hospiscare)Hospiscare Book Shop
84 South St, Exeter EX1 1EQ
Hospiscare, the hospice charity for Exeter and central and east Devon, runs its South Street branch, some 225 yards south of the Guildhall, as a book shop with vintage homeware on the side, which is how the branch describes itself on Instagram. A reel posted there on 22 February 2026 invited browsers in for anything between well-loved classics and unexpected finds, with every sale paying for local hospice care. The opening times on that account match the charity's shop list, Sundays included, and the Oxfam bookshop is under 100 yards up the street.
Hours: Mon–Sat 9:30am–4:45pm, Sun 10am–4pmWebsite Second-hand bookshopThe Topsham Bookshop
27 Fore St, Topsham, Exeter EX3 0HD
In Topsham, the estuary town within the city about 4 miles south-east of the Guildhall, this shop takes up three floors of a 17th-century house on Fore Street almost opposite St Margaret's Church, by its website's account. That site maps the rooms, from Devon and West Country topography by the front door to a windowless basement of hardbacks and a first-floor Paperback Paradise, while vintage Penguins and science fiction wait in a side room you have to ask to see. On 19 May 2026 a post by the bookshop on Facebook passed on a film of the Topsham Book Fair of 3 May that also tours its floors, and its AbeBooks storefront gives Monday-to-Saturday opening with an hour off at lunch.
Hours: Mon–Sat 10:30am–1pm, 2pm–5pmWebsite PBFA book fairTopsham Book Fair (PBFA)
Matthews Hall, Fore St, Topsham, Exeter EX3 0HF
Also in Topsham, Matthews Hall, about 250 yards up Fore Street from the bookshop, hosts what the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association's page calls its only Devon book fair, on Sunday 15 November 2026 and again on Sunday 7 March 2027. Expect antiquarian, rare and second-hand stock alongside maps, prints and ephemera, priced from the modest to the expensive; entry is £1 and lunches, snacks and hot drinks are served. The November page lists the Dawlish Book Shop among its guest exhibitors, and Topsham station is about five minutes away on foot.
Hours: Sun 15 November 2026, 10:30am–4pm; Sun 7 March 2027, 10:30am–4pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Exeter?
Book-Cycle on West Street is the obvious first stop, since you set the price yourself, three items a day at most. The Thrift Warehouse in Marsh Barton prices its donated books for families, the Devon and Exeter Institution's book trolley charges members £2 a paperback while its sales are open to all, and Sunday mornings at the Matford car boot can turn up a bargain box. For more choice at charity-shop prices, the Oxfam and Hospiscare book shops on South Street sit almost side by side.
Where do I sell used books in Exeter?
Few places on this list buy for cash. The Dawlish Bookshop says it may take on whole collections or single books, so get in touch first, and the dealers at the PBFA fair in Topsham are worth talking to if you have older or scarcer titles. Most of the rest earns more listed by you on Vinted, eBay.co.uk or the UK Amazon site than offered across a counter. Ahead of any boxing, prop a shelf's worth on a table with every spine turned your way and shoot a single BiblioScan picture: the app names each book it recognises from the spine and puts a second-hand price beside it, which splits the listing-worthy copies from the bags bound for Hospiscare or Book-Cycle.
Which charity shops have books in Exeter?
Two in the centre are built around them: Oxfam Books & Music at 97-98 South Street and Hospiscare's South Street book shop, which mixes in vintage homeware. Book-Cycle, a charity too, sells nothing but books, and the not-for-profit Thrift Warehouse in Marsh Barton takes in books with its toys and clothes. Further out, Exmouth's Parade and Den Road in Teignmouth each have an Oxfam devoted to books and music, while Killerton's bookshop raises money for the National Trust estate.
Are there any used book fairs in Exeter?
Yes, in Topsham: the PBFA fair at Matthews Hall comes back on 15 November 2026, a Sunday, then on the first Sunday of March 2027, the 7th, opening 10:30am to 4pm for £1. In the city itself, the Devon and Exeter Institution holds its next donated-book sales on the last Saturday of November 2026, the 28th, and on 6 March 2027, each from 11am until 3pm, so early March offers a sale and a fair on the same weekend.
Which day is best for book hunting in Exeter?
Saturday is the fullest day: every shop above with posted hours is open, the Topsham Bookshop included, and both of the Institution's listed sales fall on Saturdays. Sunday trades the Topsham Bookshop for the Matford car boot from 8am and the PBFA fair dates, while Book-Cycle, Hospiscare's book shop, the Thrift Warehouse, both antiques centres and Killerton stay open. The two Oxfam branches publish no hours, so phone them whichever day you pick.