Peterborough, Ontario concentrates most of its used-book stock within a few downtown blocks. Knotanew and Mark Jokinen Books are near neighbours on George Street North, By the Books is a few minutes' walk north on Water Street, the main library with the Friends' Lobby Shop sits on Aylmer Street, and the Salvation Army's Market Plaza store anchors the southern end of the George Street run. Three entries are township libraries out in the wider census metropolitan area: Ennismore in Selwyn, Millbrook in Cavan Monaghan, and Douro-Dummer. Prices throughout are Canadian dollars.
Among the eight entries here, Knotanew is the one that puts its buying terms in writing, trading cash or store credit across the George Street counter. By the Books and Mark Jokinen say nothing about buying on their websites, so ask in person, while the charity and library entries, from the Friends of the Library to the Salvation Army and the township shelves, run on donated stock, so what turns up depends on what came through their doors that week.
The fall is when the calendar pays off. Selwyn Public Library's Ennismore branch holds its fall book sale on October 3, 2026, a Saturday, and the Peterborough library's volunteer Friends follow with theirs on October 23 and 24, the group's second sale of 2026 after a 40th-anniversary spring edition in April. One name to adjust on older lists: Lakefield Station Bookshop, whose website announced it would shut once its 2025 season was over and which, by the same site, opens by appointment only.
Used bookstoresBy the Books
384 Water St, Peterborough, ON K9H 3L6
A small used bookstore on Water Street right beside By the Bridge, the lunch spot, where the owner writes that shelf space is scarce, so every book is picked for quality and the stock sticks to particular areas. Instagram is the working catalogue: on January 25, 2026 the shop ran a shop-by-DM day with holds collected later in the week, and on August 6, 2026 it flagged a first-Friday weekend with a selection, not the whole stock, at 3 for $10. Opening times travel with the posts, Sunday 11 to 3 during its fall 2025 sale and 10 to 3 on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, so read the feed before walking over, or use the free same- or next-day delivery the site offers inside the city.
Used bookstoresKnotanew Book Store
239 George St N, Peterborough, ON K9J 3G7
At the corner of Sherbrooke and George Street North, a used bookstore dating its Peterborough service to 1991, stocked with paperback fiction, picture books, young adult, history, biography, graphic novels and manga, plus a rare-finds side for first editions, Folio editions, sets and local history. Bring books to the counter and staff will offer cash or store credit; the credit lives on an account and can be put toward 50 percent of a later purchase, while a large collection calls for an email with photos first, and anything rare for the copyright-page details. A book blog's September 23, 2026 roundup of Ontario bookstores, written after a summer visit, noted that the shop keeps no online database, so the shelves themselves are the search.
Hours: Tue–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun–Mon noon–4pmWebsite Used bookstoresMark Jokinen Books
271 George St N, Peterborough, ON K9J 3G9
About 120 metres north of Knotanew on George Street North, an open shop that its own website sizes at roughly 17,000 used books. The Peterborough Examiner gave the owner 37 years in business downtown in a March 2025 story, in which he described stocking all sorts of different kinds of books and posting a weekly funny saying in the window. Opening times don't agree: the shop's website, whose footer carries a 2022 copyright, lists Tuesday through Saturday starting at 11 with Sundays and Mondays closed, while its Yellow Pages listing shows Monday to Saturday from 10, so confirm before a Monday or morning visit.
Friends of the Library saleFriends of the Peterborough Public Library Book Sales & Lobby Shop
Peterborough Public Library, 345 Aylmer St N, Peterborough, ON K9H 3V7
Each spring and fall the library's volunteer Friends take over the lower-level community room of the main branch, with rare editions and collectibles set apart in the Board Room; the group's page puts most fiction, non-fiction and audio-visual at $1 a copy, with bestsellers, children's books and collectibles priced one by one. Covering the 40th-anniversary spring sale of April 24 and 25, 2026, the Examiner reported early birds queuing about an hour before the Friday noon opening and up to three quarters of the stock typically selling. Between sales, a Lobby Shop on the main floor is stocked twice weekly with handpicked fiction, non-fiction and titles for kids, paid for by whatever you drop into the Friends' cashbox.
Hours: Fri October 23, 2026 noon–7pm; Sat October 24, 2026 10am–3pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Peterborough?
Start with the public library downtown. Between sales the Friends' lobby shelves take whatever you drop in the cashbox, and at the sales proper a typical novel costs a dollar, with the next round due in late October 2026. Out in the townships, the three Selwyn branches keep a donation-priced shelf all year and the Cavan Monaghan branches sell withdrawn stock at all times. Downtown, By the Books set $1 books out in front of the shop in September 2025 and priced a selection at 3 for $10 for the first Friday of August 2026.
Where do I sell used books in Peterborough?
Knotanew on George Street North is where to start, paying in cash or in account credit under the terms on its sell-and-trade page. Beyond that, local sellers go online, Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace for pickup deals and eBay.ca, AbeBooks and Amazon.ca for single titles, and the library's volunteer Friends accept donated boxes for their sales. For fine press, wood engravings, typography or William Morris, the antiquarian booksellers' association lists Jacob Quinlan Books, a Peterborough dealer working from a post office box, as a buyer. Sort the pile before you choose: stand the stack with spines facing out, shoot it once in BiblioScan, and the app tags each spine it recognizes with an estimated resale figure, so the few that justify a private listing split off from everything headed to a donation bin.
When is the big library book sale in Peterborough?
It's the Friends of the Peterborough Public Library's twice-yearly sale at the main branch, 345 Aylmer Street North, and the fall 2026 round opens at noon on Friday, October 23 and wraps up at 3pm on Saturday, October 24. Founded in 1986, the group had held about 70 sales and raised $800,000 for the library by its anniversary spring, the Examiner reported, so expect company at the Friday noon opening. If you're willing to drive, Selwyn's library runs its own sale out in Ennismore three weeks earlier, on Saturday, October 3, 2026, from 9am to 1pm.
Which day is best for book hunting in Peterborough?
Saturday opens the widest set of doors: Knotanew, the Market Plaza thrift store and the main library with its Lobby Shop all publish Saturday hours, Mark Jokinen's website and directory listing both include Saturday, and both fall sales on this page, Ennismore on October 3 and the Friends' second day on October 24, land on Saturdays. Sunday thins things out, since Mark Jokinen's website lists it closed and the Salvation Army shuts that day, though Knotanew opens from noon and the library keeps weekend hours; Monday is a question mark at Mark Jokinen, whose website and directory listing disagree. By the Books sets its days post by post, so check its Instagram whichever day you pick.