Hobart's secondhand trade fits into a small footprint. In the CBD, a Collins Street arcade, the Red Cross op shop and a wine-and-books room on Victoria Street sit within about 400 metres of one another, with Lifeline's Argyle Street op shop a short walk north. Down on the Salamanca side of Battery Point, two bookshops stand roughly a hundred metres apart and Salamanca Market fills the street outside them every Saturday. Beyond that the page reaches Moonah on Main Road, Howrah across the Derwent and Richmond, a village the Australian Bureau of Statistics counts inside the Hobart urban area; every stop outside the city centre names its suburb in its opening line, and all prices quoted are in Australian dollars.
Three charity sales set the calendar. The Rotary Club of Salamanca Sunrise ran its Bookfest in Sandy Bay in April 2026 and has the next one listed for Saturday 10 October 2026; Variety Tasmania's Monster Book Fair took over Princes Wharf 1 for a July 2026 weekend and is booked back for 3 July 2027; and the Lions Club of Kingborough filled the Kingston community hub for three days in August 2026. Between those dates the op shops carry the load, from Red Cross and Lifeline in the CBD to Hobart City Mission's Moonah store and a Rotary-run bookshop in Howrah.
New and secondhand bookshopCracked and Spineless New and Used Books
Shop 9, Imperial Arcade, 138 Collins St, Hobart TAS 7000
Tucked inside the Imperial Arcade off Collins Street in the heart of the CBD, a warren of new and secondhand books that carries on from the arcade's older Imperial Bookshop. Sitchu's Tasmanian bookshop guide of 3 June 2026 describes stacks rising in loose, improvised piles through noir, sci-fi curiosities, cult favourites and well-travelled classics, and Pulse Tasmania listed it among the six Hobart shops signed up for the Global Book Crawl in April 2026. There's no website; Facebook is where the shop talks to customers, and it was still posting there on 26 September 2026. The Hello Hobart directory, built around an interview first published in February 2022, gives weekday trading to 5:30pm, a shorter Saturday and a closed Sunday, so read that as a rough guide rather than a timetable.
New and secondhand bookshopThe Hobart Bookshop
22 Salamanca Square, Hobart TAS 7000
In Battery Point, on Salamanca Square just back from the waterfront, an independent selling new books alongside a curated secondhand section specialising in rare and old Tasmanian books. Its range page says that section changes too often to catalogue online, so you browse it on the shelf or not at all, and it names the shop a member of the Hobart Antiquarian and Second hand Booksellers association. Pulse Tasmania's report of 13 March 2026 had the shop handing out passports for that year's Global Book Crawl, and its events page was advertising a launch for Thursday 1 October 2026. The only closures it publishes are Christmas Day and Anzac Day, with shorter trading on other public holidays.
Hours: Mon–Sat 9am–5pm, Sun 10am–4pmWebsite Rotary bookshopRotary Howrah Pre-Loved Bookshop
Howrah Point Shopping Centre, 78 Howrah Rd, Howrah TAS 7018
Across the Derwent in Howrah, some 6.4 km from the city centre as the crow flies, local Rotarians and community volunteers keep a bookshop inside the Howrah Point Shopping Centre, with donated books for all ages sorted by genre and the takings funding the club's community projects. The club's home page carries the current hours and was selling tickets for its 2026 Christmas raffle over the bookshop counter, with the draw on Saturday 19 December 2026. A superseded page elsewhere on the club's site still gives Monday to Wednesday opening, next to prices of $4 a book or three for $10 and $2 for most children's titles, but a Facebook post on Saturday 1 August 2026 matched the home page's Saturday morning session.
Hours: Wed–Fri 10am–4pm, Sat 10am–1pmWebsite Rotary book saleBookfest
Sea Scout Hall, 5 Marieville Esplanade, Sandy Bay TAS 7005
In Sandy Bay, 1.6 km from the city centre going south-south-east, the Sea Scout Hall on Marieville Esplanade is where Salamanca Sunrise Rotary lays out donated books, games and recordings, and the club's Facebook event lists the spring 2026 sale for Saturday 10 October from 9am. That event's blurb still reads 11–12 October with a Saturday and a Sunday session, which were the 2025 dates, so check whether Sunday 11 October is on before planning around it. Previewing the October 2025 sale, the Hobart Observer called Bookfest the city's longest-running biannual book sale, with non-fiction by subject, fiction by genre, $3 books and $1 children's titles. The club held its autumn round on 11 April 2026.
Charity book fairVariety Monster Book Fair
Princes Wharf 1, Castray Esplanade, Hobart TAS 7000
On the waterfront at Princes Wharf 1, the fundraiser Variety Tasmania runs for children in need, which Pulse Tasmania called the state's biggest second-hand book sale on 3 July 2026. That report put the July 2026 stock at roughly 45,000 donated books, noted that the charity's twelfth fair a year earlier had filled more than 30 pallets, and listed fiction, cookbooks, children's books and collectables with free entry. Variety's event page says the fair returns to PW1 on 3 July 2027, and its fundraising site collects stock through Monster May drop-offs at Shiploads stores around Tasmania.
Hours: Sat 3 July 2027Website Where can I find cheap used books in Hobart?
Time it to the sales. Previewing Rotary's October 2025 Bookfest in Sandy Bay, the Hobart Observer put books at three dollars and children's titles at one, and the club's spring round comes back in October 2026. Between sales, the Howrah Rotary shop has listed most titles at a few dollars apiece with a multi-buy deal, and Hobart City Mission's op shops moved more than 42,000 one-dollar items over 2025. For sheer volume, Variety spread a donated stock numbering in the tens of thousands across Princes Wharf 1 in July 2026, charged nothing to get in, and has its next fair set for July 2027.
Where do I sell used books in Hobart?
Hobart's cheap book supply leans on donations: Red Cross, Lifeline, Hobart City Mission, Variety, the Lions and both Rotary clubs fill their tables that way. For cash, the practical route is online, through Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace, Amazon.com.au and eBay.com.au. Sort before you list: shoot each shelf spine-out and BiblioScan sets a resale figure beside each spine it recognises; the handful worth your own listing time stands out from the carton destined for a Monster May drop-off or a Hobart City Mission counter.
When is the big book sale in Hobart?
There are three to plan around. Variety Tasmania's Monster Book Fair, the state's largest secondhand sale by Pulse Tasmania's reckoning, ran over the first weekend of July 2026 at Princes Wharf 1 and Variety has set 3 July 2027 for the next. The Lions Club of Kingborough calls its Kingston sale annual and held it from Friday to Sunday, 7 to 9 August 2026, after an 8–10 August run in 2025. Rotary's Bookfest at the Sea Scout Hall in Sandy Bay, which the Hobart Observer calls biannual, ran in April 2026 and opens its doors again on Saturday 10 October 2026, per the event the club posted.
Which op shops have books in Hobart?
Four stand out. The Red Cross shop on Elizabeth Street advertises books on its own Instagram, Lifeline Tasmania singled out the books, vinyl and DVDs at its Argyle Street store, Hobart City Mission lists books at its Moonah Mega-Store, and the Rotary Club of Howrah runs a shop that sells nothing but pre-loved books. Vinnies ran a statewide books-and-media promotion in July 2026.
Which day is best for book hunting in Hobart?
Saturday. That is Salamanca Market's trading day, putting the Rapid Eye Books stall a short walk from The Hobart Bookshop and Deja Vu Books, and the Howrah Rotary shop, Lifeline, Red Cross and the Moonah Mega-Store all open too. Sunday thins out: of the stops with published hours, only The Hobart Bookshop and the Red Cross shop trade, while Lifeline and the Moonah store stay shut and the Howrah shop is closed from Sunday through Tuesday.