Where to buy used books in Oxford

Updated 20/10/2026

Oxford, the university city of Oxfordshire in England, has most of its secondhand bookshops in the streets around Carfax. Broad Street holds Blackwell's antiquarian department and Turl Street the second of two Oxfam bookshops; St Giles' has the charity's original 1987 bookshop, Walton Street and Magdalen Street the two Oxford branches of the Last Bookshop, and the Golden Cross yard off Cornmarket its newest dealer, Barker & Co, which opened in May 2026. Below Carfax, St Philip's Books on St Aldate's deals in theology, history and the Inklings. Pounds sterling are the currency behind every price quoted.

East of Magdalen Bridge the mix shifts to charity shops and a market. Cowley Road has a general Oxfam a short walk from the Saturday farmers' market whose book stall works on an honesty box, Templars Square in Cowley has a Mercy in Action outlet that the Oxford Clarion praised for its books, and Oxfam's superstore sits further out on the business park. Headington adds another Oxfam and, on the Oxford Brookes campus, the April and October fairs of the PBFA.

Beyond the ring road, three market towns within about 12 miles each have an Oxfam stocked mainly with books and recorded music: Witney to the west, Thame to the east and Wallingford on the Thames to the south. Older listings can mislead on two points. The Magdalen Street shop traded as The Book Stop before taking the Last Bookshop name, and Blackwell's cut back its general secondhand stock years ago, as the Oxford Mail recalled in May 2026, while keeping its rare-book department.

Spot map

The best spots

Second-hand and antiquarian bookshop

Barker & Co. Booksellers

16 Golden Cross, Oxford OX1 3EU

Opened in May 2026 in the Golden Cross, the old inn yard linking Cornmarket with the Covered Market, in a unit that the Oxford Mail said had been a pancake café and, before that, an optician's. Cherwell's report of 25 May 2026 described stock running from accessibly priced paperbacks to antiquarian first editions, with a first edition of Orwell's 1984 at £1,000 and an 1863 Romola at £200, and quoted the owners' hope of growing the antiquarian side. The partners told the Oxford Mail they would buy too, though mostly whole lots from house clearances rather than a book or two across the counter; the shop's Instagram set out opening times for all seven days on 18 May 2026.

Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–6pm, Sun noon–5pmWebsite

Rare and second-hand bookshop

St Philip's Books

82 St Aldate's, Oxford OX1 1RA

Facing Christ Church's gardens on St Aldate's, this shop describes its line as rare and secondhand books in the humanities, with Roman Catholic theology, John Henry Newman and the Oxford Movement, and C.S. Lewis and Tolkien among its particular interests. The Oxford Clarion's guide of 22 May 2026 found it filling two maze-like rooms of a 15th-century building and noted that it also sells through AbeBooks. Its own page counts over 10,000 new and secondhand volumes and says it is often open later, so phone 01865 202182 if you plan to arrive near closing.

Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–5:30pmWebsite

Remainder and second-hand bookshop

The Last Bookshop Jericho

25 Walton St, Oxford OX1 2HQ

A Jericho shop on Walton Street that mixes remainders with secondhand and rare titles, from poetry and psychology to politics and philosophy, by its own description. In May 2026 the Oxford Clarion priced the whole stock at £5 or under and placed it in a miniature chain of four remainder bookshops, two of them in Oxford. The owners, who also sell online as Bill & Ben Books, say much of their secondhand stock comes from local house clearances.

Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–6pm, Sun 11am–5pmWebsite

Oxfam Bookshop

Oxfam Bookshop St Giles

56 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LU

Oxfam's page calls this two-storey shop the charity's first bookshop, officially opened by Sir John Mortimer in 1987, and credits the university donors and volunteers around it with a deep stock of academic and foreign-language books. In April 2026 Cherwell reported that Oxford City Council had refused Regent's Park College permission to turn the premises into a postgraduate common room, and the college said it was reviewing its options. No opening hours appear on the Oxfam listing, and 01865 310145 is the number to try.

Website

Antiquarian book fair (PBFA)

Oxford Premier Book Fair

Oxford Brookes University, Headington Campus, Gipsy Lane, Oxford OX3 0BP

The PBFA lists its Oxford Premier fair for Saturday 24 April 2027 on the Headington campus of Oxford Brookes University, open 11am to 5pm with £2 admission. The association's one-day Oxford fair returns to the campus on Saturday 16 October 2027 with around 60 dealers, prices from £2 into the thousands, a café and £1 entry; its 2026 edition took place on Saturday 17 October. There is no parking on site, and the association recommends the Thornhill Park & Ride instead, its buses stopping outside the venue.

Hours: Sat 24 April 2027, 11am–5pmWebsite

All spots by type

Second-hand bookshops

Rare book department (Blackwell's)

Blackwell's Rare Books

Blackwell's, 48-51 Broad St, Oxford OX1 3BQ

The antiquarian department inside Blackwell's main Broad Street shop, which says it buys and sells rare and collectable books in all fields, with modern first editions, private press, early printing and fine bindings to the fore. Its catalogue list includes Great War, Private Press and Edward Bawden catalogues issued in January 2025, and the Oxford Mail wrote in May 2026 that the department remains one of the best known in the country even though the shop long ago trimmed its general secondhand stock. Anyone with a rare book or a whole library to sell is asked to email [email protected] first with the author, title and publication details.

Hours: Mon 9am–6pm, Tue 9:30am–6pm, Wed–Sat 9am–6pmWebsite

Remainder and second-hand bookshop

Last Bookshop Magdalen Street

19 Magdalen St, Oxford OX1 3AE

The chain's other Oxford branch stands on Magdalen Street beside the bus stops, which is why it was branded The Book Stop before it became a Last Bookshop, as the Oxford Clarion explained in May 2026. The Oxford Mail, still using the old name that month, listed it among the city shops selling secondhand and discounted books, and the owners' website gives its number as 01865 792681. Remainders make up much of the stock, so treat it as a quick stop between Barker & Co and the St Giles' Oxfam rather than a long dig.

Website

Second-hand bookshop (basement)

Curio Books and Culture

Downstairs at Common Ground, 37-38 Little Clarendon St, Oxford OX1 2HU

Reached by a staircase down from the Common Ground café, Curio fills a basement vault with pre-loved books, and the Oxford Clarion's roundup of May 2026 said it opened in 2023 to sell secondhand books alongside zines. The same piece rated the vault one of the cheapest event spaces for hire in central Oxford. Curio said on Instagram on 12 June 2026 that it was shutting for a break alongside Common Ground, and its post of 14 October 2026 promised a return the following week, so check that account before heading down.

Website

Gift shop with second-hand books

Arcadia

4 St Michael's St, Oxford OX1 2DU

A small gift shop on St Michael's Street that greets passers-by with a stall of paperbacks, which the Oxford Clarion likened in May 2026 to a Paris bouquiniste's. Inside, a modest run of secondhand books shares the room with greetings cards and posters, and the Oxford Mail's report of the same month likewise named it as a seller of secondhand books and gifts. Expect a browse rather than a deep search, with the outdoor rack doing most of the work.

Charity shops

Oxfam Bookshop

Oxfam Bookshop Turl Street

15 Turl St, Oxford OX1 3DQ

Oxfam's second Oxford bookshop stands on Turl Street, the lane between Broad Street and the High, and the Oxford Clarion's guide of May 2026 credited it, like St Giles', with two floors of arts, sciences and fiction. Oxfam's listing posts no hours, so call 01865 248310 to check. Blackwell's Rare Books is only a few minutes away, so the pair make a tidy circuit.

Website

Charity shop (Oxfam)

Oxfam Shop Cowley Road

133-135 Cowley Rd, Oxford OX4 1HU

On Cowley Road, just under a mile out from the centre beyond Magdalen Bridge, this Oxfam's own page names books ahead of clothes, accessories, homewares, music, DVDs and toys. The Oxford Clarion confirmed in May 2026 that books are sold here, as at the Headington and Summertown branches. The East Oxford market, with its Saturday book box, is a couple of minutes' walk away on Union Street.

Hours: Mon–Sat 9:30am–5:30pm, Sun 11:30am–4pmWebsite

Charity shop (Oxfam)

Oxfam Shop Headington

83 London Rd, Headington, Oxford OX3 9AA

Up in Headington, two miles out along the London Road, this Oxfam is one of the general branches that the Oxford Clarion said in May 2026 all sell books. Oxfam's listing pairs those shelves with clothes, accessories, music and homewares, plus some fair-trade groceries and cards. It keeps Sunday afternoon hours as well.

Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun noon–4pmWebsite

Charity shop (Oxfam)

Oxfam Shop Summertown

223 Banbury Rd, Summertown, Oxford OX2 7HQ

North Oxford's Oxfam sits on Banbury Road in Summertown, 1.8 miles up the road from the centre, and the Oxford Clarion counted it among the city's book-selling Oxfams in May 2026. Its page invites donations at any time during opening hours without an appointment, though games, toys, electricals and big furniture are turned away. Sunday is its day off.

Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–5pmWebsite

Charity superstore (Oxfam)

Oxfam Superstore Oxford

6500 Alec Issigonis Way, Oxford Business Park North, Oxford OX4 2JZ

Out on Oxford Business Park North in Cowley, roughly 2.5 miles east-south-east of the centre, Oxfam's superstore mixes donated stock with its own fair-trade range and runs a café built inside an Oxfam water tank. The Oxford Clarion included it in May 2026 among the Oxfam outlets selling books, and the superstore asks donors to keep books in their own bags, apart from clothing, homewares and linen. Donations are accepted daily between 10:30am and 4pm, a narrower window than the shop's trading hours.

Hours: Mon–Sat 9:30am–5:30pm, Sun 10:30am–4:30pmWebsite

Charity shop (Mercy in Action)

Mercy in Action Oxford Outlet

25-27 Pound Way, Templars Square, Cowley, Oxford OX4 3XX

In Templars Square, Cowley's shopping centre a 2.2-mile trip south-east of Carfax, this outlet raises money for Mercy in Action's work with children in the Philippines, and the Oxford Clarion picked it out in May 2026 for having lots of books, cheap and cheerful. The shopping centre's directory lists books with the clothing, accessories, homeware and toys. Mercy in Action's own branch list has it trading from 9am until 5pm, Monday to Saturday, and from 10am until 4pm on Sundays, while the Templars Square page shows closing at 4:30pm and 3:30pm, so plan on the shorter day.

Website

Oxfam Books & Music

Oxfam Bookshop Witney

14 High St, Witney OX28 6HB

In Witney, the West Oxfordshire market town about 10 miles west-north-west of Oxford, Oxfam's books-and-music shop occupies 14 High Street, next door to the charity's general branch at number 16. Its page promises books in most subjects from children's titles to art, plus films, discs, records and sheet music in classical and pop, and the Oxford Clarion's May 2026 county roundup named Witney among the towns with an Oxfam book outlet. No hours are posted, so phone 01993 776985 before driving over.

Website

Oxfam Books & Music

Oxfam Bookshop Thame

9b Cornmarket, Thame OX9 3DX

In Thame, a South Oxfordshire market town some 12 miles east of Oxford, the Cornmarket Oxfam bookshop covers everything from modern novels and hobby books up to the classics and collectable or rare editions, with rock, pop and classical records and CDs too. The Oxford Clarion named Thame in May 2026 as one of the county's Oxfam book stops. Donors with more than one bag, roughly 20 books, are asked to ring 01844 214645 beforehand because storage is tight.

Hours: Mon 9:30am–5:30pm, Tue 9am–5:30pm, Wed–Sat 9:30am–5:30pm, Sun 11am–3pmWebsite

Oxfam Books & Music

Oxfam Bookshop Wallingford

54 St Mary's St, Wallingford OX10 0EL

In Wallingford, the South Oxfordshire riverside town nearly 12 miles south-south-east of Oxford, this books-and-music branch sits on St Mary's Street, barely off the market place. Its Oxfam page spans art to children's books and hobbies to sciences, adds vinyl, maps, sheet music, CDs and DVDs, and says a volunteer team lists selected stock on Oxfam's online shop. Wallingford was one of the Oxfam book towns in the Oxford Clarion's county survey of May 2026, and Reading lies only a fraction further away than Oxford.

Hours: Mon–Sat 9am–5pmWebsite

Car boot sales & markets

Saturday market book stall

East Oxford Farmers' & Community Market

East Oxford Primary School, Union St, Oxford OX4 1JP

A community-run, not-for-profit market, established in 2006, that sets up every Saturday morning in the grounds of East Oxford Primary School, just off Cowley Road. Its stall list for Saturday 17 October 2026 included Jason's Book Box with carefully curated second-hand books, and the Oxford Clarion's write-up of May 2026 describes buyers paying into an honesty box, £2 a book or three for £5. On that list every other pitch sold food or flowers, so bring coins and a bag.

Hours: Sat 10am–1pmWebsite

Scan before you buy

At every one of these spots, snap the shelf with BiblioScan: the AI identifies each book and shows its real resale price. Walk out with profitable books, not random boxes.

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Local sourcing tips

Several well-known Oxford bookshops sell new stock and sit outside this list. Blackwell's main shop on Broad Street, bought by Waterstones in 2022 according to the Oxford Clarion, sells new titles outside its rare-book department; Waterstones moved to Queen Street late in 2025, and Daunt Books in Summertown, TG Jones on Cornmarket, Gulp Fiction in the Covered Market, Caper on Magdalen Road and the romantasy shop Bad Girl Books on Walton Street are new-book shops too. The Clarion added in August 2026 that Gulp Fiction had applied to open at 6 Broad Street and that Blackwell's small Westgate branch had closed.
Plenty of charity shops trade without a shop-specific word about books. Oxfam's Broad Street branch, which Oxfam says became the UK's first charity shop in 1947, lists clothes, homewares, music and stamps but no books; Helen & Douglas House in Rose Hill and on Windmill Road in Headington, the Mercy in Action shop on Little Clarendon Street and the hospice shops of Sobell House are worth a look when passing, and the Kidlington Centre's directory does mention books at the Sobell House shop there.
A few odd corners reward the curious. The Ballroom Emporium on The Plain is a vintage clothing house where the Oxford Clarion spotted a bookcase of orange-spined Penguins, Austin Sherlaw-Johnson keeps secondhand sheet music and books about classical music at the back of Antiques on High, Sanders of Oxford, an ABA member at Salutation House on the High, deals in prints and maps, and Mallams on St Michael's Street runs a books and manuscripts department for auction buyers. The Clarion also mentioned a book stall that often stands outside Headington market on Saturdays and a couple more in the open-air market at Gloucester Green.
Car boots around Oxford are run through social media rather than a published calendar. The Oxfordshire Bootsale and Events Company usually holds a Sunday sale at Dalton Barracks near Abingdon, and the Oxford Mail reported in July 2026 that it had called off the one planned for 26 July because of a military memorial while its Witney and Bicester sales went ahead. Check the company's Facebook page before setting an alarm, and expect books to be pot luck.
Some sources are online only or lie beyond reach. Bill & Ben Books sells the Last Bookshop's stock online, Temple Rare Books of Oxford trades through its website, and Awesome Books trades online from Wallingford. Further out, the Oxford Clarion praised Regent Books in Wantage for its 100,000-plus volumes and noted a relocated Oxfam and Kellow Books in Chipping Norton, while Henley-on-Thames has its own entries on the Reading page.
Free books turn up too. The Oxford Clarion knew of book boxes on Aristotle Lane, Cowley Road and Marlborough Court, plus the Free Book Nook on Campbell Road in Florence Park, all of them swap points rather than shops. Take one, leave one, and keep the buying for the city-centre crawl from St Aldate's up to St Giles'.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I find cheap used books in Oxford?

Start at either Last Bookshop, on Walton Street or Magdalen Street: the Oxford Clarion reported in May 2026 that nothing in them costs more than £5. The Saturday book box at the East Oxford market works on trust at £2 each or £5 for three, and Mercy in Action in Templars Square earned the Clarion's cheap-and-cheerful label for its books. Arcadia's outdoor rack of paperbacks on St Michael's Street is worth a glance on the way past.

Where do I sell used books in Oxford?

For anything rare, email Blackwell's Rare Books with author, title and edition details, since the department says it buys single books as well as collections and libraries. Barker & Co told the Oxford Mail in May 2026 that it would buy secondhand stock, chiefly in quantity from clearance jobs, not one or two volumes at the till. Everyday paperbacks fare better online, with the stronger titles listed singly on Amazon.co.uk, mid-range ones bundled for eBay.co.uk, Vinted for popular fiction and the leftovers handed to an Oxfam bookshop. One picture of the stacked shelf, taken in BiblioScan, lays a resale figure beside every spine the app manages to identify, telling you before any boxing which handful merit a dealer's opinion.

Which charity shops have books in Oxford?

Oxfam runs dedicated bookshops on St Giles' and Turl Street in the city, with books-and-music branches in Witney, Thame and Wallingford. Its general shops on Cowley Road, in Headington and in Summertown, and the superstore on Oxford Business Park, sell books as well, according to the Oxford Clarion's May 2026 survey, which also sent readers to the Mercy in Action outlet at Templars Square. Oxfam's Broad Street branch and the Helen & Douglas House shops list no books on their own pages.

Are there any used book fairs in Oxford?

Yes, the PBFA brings dealers to the Brookes campus in Headington. Its calendar shows the Oxford Premier fair on Saturday 24 April 2027, from 11am to 5pm at £2, and a one-day fair of around 60 dealers on Saturday 16 October 2027 at £1; the 2026 October fair was held on Saturday 17 October. With no parking at the venue, the Thornhill Park & Ride is the easiest way in.

Which day is best for book hunting in Oxford?

Saturday. Every shop above that posts its hours trades that day, and the East Oxford market's book box is out until 1pm. Sunday is thinner: Barker & Co, the Last Bookshop in Jericho, the Cowley Road and Headington Oxfams, the superstore, Mercy in Action and the Thame bookshop open, while St Philip's and Blackwell's Rare Books list Monday to Saturday only and Summertown and Wallingford stay shut. Curio had promised in October 2026 to reopen after its summer break, so confirm on its Instagram whatever the day.

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