The Book Cellar at the Webster Library

Recently I took an afternoon and visited the Book Cellar used bookstore, in the basement of the Webster branch of the New York Public Library.

Wow!

I found out about the Book Cellar via Instagram- you can visit their page here. They always post really great-looking book stacks and I've been really wanting to get out there but they are located deep in the Upper East Side and only open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, mostly when I am busy. But my schedule opened up unexpectedly this week so I was able to squeeze in a trip.

 I took the boat over to midtown from Jersey and hopped on the uptown bus to 57th; from there I walked all the way up to the bookstore but not before passing 787 Coffee at 228 E80th Street for one of their legendary coquito lattes. Highly. Recommend.

That done, I wandered down a couple of streets and descended into a wonderland of used books. My haul:

Signed Bowlaway plus a bunch of other cool things!

Fiction of all varieties helpfully curated and separated into general, science fiction, historical fiction and a whole room of mystery. So many cookbooks! So much nonfiction of all varieties. Signed books. Collectibles. CDs. Recent stuff. Older stuff. All in beautiful condition, all sorted and alphabetized and easy to browse. Wow.

 

And the friendliest nicest people run the store, all on a volunteer basis, with proceeds going to the New York Public Library system. I seriously love this place. I hope to come back when I'm in the neighborhood again for my next doctor's appointment or free afternoon. Not to mention those lattes, yum. A perfect afternoon in Manhattan!

They are located at 78th Street and York Avenue. Instagram will have their hours. They are cash-only and they gave me an adorable tote with my over-20-dollar purchase.