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Independent since 1987 · 214 Exchange St, Portland, ME
A good bookstore knows what you’ll love next.
38,000 new and used books on three creaky floors in the Old Port, chosen by eleven booksellers who read more than is good for them. Tap the magnifier in the menu to search the whole shop.
Saturday morning in the fiction room, second floor.
Search the shelves
Is it on the shelf right now?
Our stock updates every fifteen minutes. If we have it, we’ll hold it at the front desk for three days, free.
Popular this week: Demon Copperhead · The Maine Woods · Tomorrow, and Tomorrow · Lessons in Chemistry
Staff picks
Eleven booksellers, one shelf of favorites
Try “cozy mystery”, “Maine”, or “can’t put it down”.
01
The Maine Woods
Henry David Thoreau
$18
Picked by Ruth, who has read it on every one of her 14 Katahdin trips.
02
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Gabrielle Zevin
$20
Picked by Theo: “the best book about friendship I’ve sold in years.”
03
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter
Anne Corliss
$17
Picked by Marisol for anyone who loves Casco Bay in the fog.
04
Braiding Sweetgrass
Robin Wall Kimmerer
$22
Picked by Ben. Our most re-ordered book three years running.
Daniel Whitcomb, owner since 2011, in the history room.
The shop
Thirty-nine years of putting the right book in the right hands.
Margaret Whitcomb opened Shelfwise in 1987 with 4,000 used paperbacks and a cat named Dewey. Her son Daniel added the new-books floor, the kids’ room and a coffee bar that serves the best cardamom bun on Exchange Street.
We still buy used books every Tuesday and Saturday, 10 AM to 2 PM. Bring a box; leave with store credit.
Wondering if we’d buy yours? Look it up first.
The kids’ room
Picture books, chapter books and a reading nook built like a boat.
Story time is every Wednesday and Saturday at 10:30 AM with Miss June. Under-12s get a free book for every ten they buy. We keep the card for you.
Find a book by age, topic or favorite character
The reading boat, kids’ room, ground floor.
The Thursday night book club, upstairs in the history room.
Author talks, book clubs & late nights
Thu, Nov 12
Book club: “The Covenant of Water”
7:00 PM · history room · free
Sat, Nov 21
Elena Park reads from “Salt Line”
6:30 PM · ground floor · $5, includes coffee
Fri, Dec 4
Holiday late night: 20% off everything
6:00–10:00 PM · whole shop
Rare & used
First editions, signed copies and the occasional treasure.
Our rare-book room holds 2,400 titles, from a signed 1952 “The Old Man and the Sea” ($4,800) to Maine county histories at $25.
$4,800
Hemingway, signed first edition, 1952
$1,150
Sarah Orne Jewett, “The Country of the Pointed Firs”, 1896
$340
Rachel Carson, “The Edge of the Sea”, first printing
Visit
214 Exchange Street, in the Old Port
Hours
Mon–Sat 9 AM–8 PM
Sunday 10 AM–6 PM
Coffee bar opens at 8
Sunday 10 AM–6 PM
Coffee bar opens at 8
Find us
214 Exchange St
Portland, ME 04101
(207) 555-0163
Portland, ME 04101
(207) 555-0163
Calling ahead? Check stock first:
Portland Harbor, a five-minute walk from our front door.
The Shelfwise Letter
One email a month. Twelve books we couldn’t stop talking about.
Reviews by our booksellers, signed-copy pre-orders and first word on events. 9,400 readers in Maine and beyond.
“The October letter got me through a week of rain.” — Hannah, Cape Elizabeth
November’s twelve, photographed at the coffee bar.
Still looking for it?
If we don’t have it, we’ll order it. Most books arrive in two to three days.
Shop
214 Exchange St
Portland, ME 04101
Portland, ME 04101
Talk to a bookseller
(207) 555-0163
hello@shelfwisebooks.com
hello@shelfwisebooks.com
Special orders
orders@shelfwisebooks.com
Free pickup, or $4.95 shipping in the US
Free pickup, or $4.95 shipping in the US
