London, Ontario splits its used-book trade between a downtown knot, a second cluster in the Old East Village and a ring of charity counters, and this guide stretches to the rest of the London census metropolitan area, from St. Thomas in the south to Middlesex Centre in the north; whenever a stop lies outside the city, its first line names the municipality. Downtown works on foot. Attic Books and the Friends' shop inside the Central Library sit about 70 metres apart on Dundas Street, City Lights is some 300 metres away on Richmond Street, and Centennial Hall, where the October sale happens, is 500 metres north on Wellington. Head east along Dundas and Midnight Mass Books, Brown & Dickson on Elias Street and the Bread and Roses stall at the Western Fair District market are all within roughly 850 metres of each other. The rest calls for a car or the bus: two Goodwill bookstores, The Book Addict on Springbank Drive, thrift counters on York Street, Oxford Street West and Hyde Park Road, Gibraltar Market further out on Dundas, Cardinal Books at Birr, the Ilderton library branch and Lockwood Books in St. Thomas. Figures below are in Canadian dollars.
Four counters will look at books you want to sell, each on terms of its own. Attic buys by appointment only, on Fridays and Saturdays, and makes house calls for more than 500 books provided they are not mostly paperbacks. City Lights takes walk-ins and pays a percentage of what a title fetches on the used market, while Brown & Dickson buys small lots across the counter on Elias Street, can open a trade account in place of cash, and likes a call, text or Instagram message with photos before you arrive. ABAC, the national association of antiquarian dealers, also lists Cardinal Books as a buyer. The charities run the other way and want donations: the library's Friends accept bags at their Central Library shop or at a warehouse beside the Byron branch on Tuesdays, and the Volunteer Organization of CPRI keeps a drop-off shed on the CPRI grounds year-round.
Three things trip up older London lists. The ABAC member directory still prints Brown & Dickson at 567 Richmond Street, the Richmond Row shop that CBC News reported closing in February 2023 as its owners turned to a showroom and a converted school bus; their own site gives 1025 Elias Street. Midnight Mass Books opened on Dundas Street in May 2025, so any list written before then is missing it. And 2026 brought a first: Attic Books marked 50 years with Bibliomania, a street festival of booksellers on Dundas Place on June 20, and the festival site had announced no second edition when checked in September 2026.
Antiquarian bookstoreAttic Books
240 Dundas St, London, ON N6A 1H3
Three floors of antiquarian and secondhand stock on Dundas Street downtown, with the basement given over to discount books, and a history the shop tells on its About page: Marvin Post opened on the third floor of 428 Richmond Street in 1976, spent 1987 to 1996 out in Parkhill, then bought 240 Dundas and moved back. The Bibliomania street festival it staged outside on June 20, 2026 was billed by its organizers as a party for that 50th year. The buying guide says purchases happen strictly by appointment on Fridays and Saturdays, with house calls for collections over 500 books unless most are paperbacks, and no figure given before a buyer has the book in hand. Appraisals start at $100 for a single item assessed in store, and the events page had Attic booked as a vendor at CANPEX in London across October 17–18, 2026.
Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–5pmWebsite Used books and recordsCity Lights Bookshop
356 Richmond St, London, ON
A fixture of downtown London since 1975 by its own count, on Richmond Street about 300 metres from Attic, where used books share what the shop calls labyrinthine aisles with vinyl, CDs, DVDs, comics, turn-of-the-century sheet music and old memorabilia. Its contact page says it buys used books across the counter, offering a percentage of current used-market value that depends on condition and existing stock, and asks anyone with a large load to get in touch first. A London Free Press piece of April 27, 2026 on the documentary The Box, The Con and the Handsomest Man in Fandom traced the film to a box of sci-fi convention memorabilia its director found here while Christmas shopping in 2009. On July 24, 2026 the shop's Instagram posted from an evening at Anderson Craft Ales with fellow booksellers.
Hours: Tue–Sun 11am–5pmWebsite Used bookstoresBrown & Dickson Bookstore
1025 Elias St, London, ON N5W 3P6
A shared vintage showroom on Elias Street, 3.1 km northeast of downtown, where the books of owners Jason Dickson and Vanessa Brown stand next to the vintage goods of Back to the Fuchsia, The Sentimentalist and Baba Yaga's House. CBC News reported in February 2023 that the couple were leaving Richmond Row after trading there since 2014, and that they had bought a school bus to turn into a portable bookstore; their site says that bookmobile is seasonal, out mainly from April to November, with its schedule posted on Instagram. Smaller collections are bought over the counter, bigger ones may get a house call, photos sent ahead by text or Instagram are welcome, and sellers can take trade credit on an account instead. The shelves lean to offbeat pulps, counterculture, local history, artist's books and comix, and a recent-arrivals post dated August 30, 2026 priced Andrew Lang's coloured Fairy Books in Dover paperback at $5 to $10.
Hours: Wed–Sat 11am–7pm, Sun 11am–5pmWebsite Friends of the Library saleFriends of the London Public Library Giant Fall Book Sale
Centennial Hall (Lower Level), 550 Wellington St, London, ON
The library's Friends group calls this its annual giant fall sale, and the 2026 poster puts it on the lower level of Centennial Hall across three days in mid-October. Pricing goes by format: pocket paperbacks and teen or young-adult titles $2, hardcovers and trade paperbacks $4, children's books, CDs, DVDs, audiobooks and LPs $1 apiece, magazines 25 cents. Specialty books, sets and collections carry their own prices and are only out on the Friday and Saturday, after which Sunday turns into a $5 fill-a-bag day with the bag supplied. Entry costs nothing, and the Friends take cash, credit or debit.
Hours: Fri October 16, 2026 9am–9pm; Sat October 17, 2026 9am–5pm; Sun October 18, 2026 10am–4pmWebsite Used bookstoresLockwood Books
488 Talbot St, St. Thomas, ON N5P 1C2
Down in St. Thomas, on Talbot Street 23 km south of downtown London, a secondhand bookshop with a coffee bar and patio whose website counts over 25,000 books in store, and whose About page speaks of a passion for rare, unusual and antique titles. Its Facebook page runs Softcover Sunday, halving the price of every used softcover each Sunday, and on Saturday, September 26, 2026 it put its patio stock out at $1 a book or $10 a bag for what it called the last patio sale of the year. The summer reading sale that closed on August 30, 2026 cut 10, 20 or 30 percent off used books depending on the spend.
Hours: Tue–Sat 10am–6pm, Sun 11am–4pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in London?
Aim for the library Friends first. Their 2026 giant fall sale at Centennial Hall charges $2 per pocket paperback, $4 per hardcover and $1 per children's title, and on the Sunday you can fill a supplied bag for $5. Between sales the Friends' shop beside the Central Library sells donated stock without tax, and Lockwood, down in St. Thomas, knocks half off every used softcover on Sundays. For more volume, add the Goodwill book-and-media stores on Adelaide Street North and Wellington Road and the St. Vincent de Paul store on York Street.
Where do I sell used books in London?
Book Attic Books for a Friday or Saturday appointment, or ask for a home visit if your library runs past 500 volumes and leans toward hardcovers. On Richmond Street, City Lights sizes up walk-in boxes and offers a cut of used-market value, and Brown & Dickson on Elias Street buys smaller lots over the counter, sends someone for bigger ones and can set up trade credit instead. Cardinal Books at Birr also buys, according to its antiquarian association listing. Before hauling anything, snap one shelf in BiblioScan and it pairs every spine it recognizes with a resale estimate, and the handful earning a Kijiji, eBay.ca or Amazon.ca post under your own name separates itself from the box bound for a counter.
Which day is best for book hunting in London?
Saturday: each shop and market on this page that publishes hours is open then, from Attic and City Lights downtown to the Western Fair and Gibraltar markets. Sunday comes next: Attic, the Friends' shop, St. Vincent de Paul and Cardinal Books stay shut, but City Lights, Brown & Dickson, Midnight Mass Books, both weekend markets and both Goodwill bookstores are open, and the St. Thomas shop Lockwood halves its used softcovers. Leave Monday out, when City Lights, Brown & Dickson, Midnight Mass, Cardinal Books, Lockwood and both markets are all closed.
When is the big library book sale in London?
The Friends of the London Public Library hold it every fall downstairs at Centennial Hall, 550 Wellington Street; in 2026 the doors open Friday, October 16 (9am to 9pm), then Saturday, October 17 (9am to 5pm) and Sunday, October 18 (10am to 4pm). Individually priced specialty books and sets are only on the tables Friday and Saturday, and Sunday is the bag day. In spring, the Volunteer Organization of CPRI holds its own sale of donated books on the CPRI grounds, which took place March 19 to 22 in 2026.