BOSTON BOOK COMPANY AND BOOK ANNEX, INC.
705 Centre Street, 2nd floor
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
617-522-2100
800-653-7767
617-522-9359 fax
email: info@rarebook.com

Boston Book Company is our rare book and cataloging operation at 705 Centre Street in Jamaica Plain, a district of Boston, Massachusetts. In business since 1979, we are now the largest exclusively antiquarian bookshop in the Boston area. The shop occupies the entire second floor (2,500 square feet) of a 19th Century brick building in the downtown area of this Boston neighborhood.

The PRINCIPALS, Helen Kelly and Charles Vilnis, are longtime members of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers. They also belong to the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Antiquarian Booksellers (MARIAB). Recognized as experts, particularly in the field of Japanese printing, they have been called upon many times by colleagues, collectors and institutions for research and appraisal projects. They and the BBC staff wish to welcome you to our bookshops.

OUR STOCK of some 30,000 volumes, available for browsing, includes one of the largest and finest inventories of books relating to Japan and East Asia in the country. In addition to a large general antiquarian stock, our areas of particular expertise are: children's books, photographica, Americana, historical archives, women's books, color plate books, early maps and atlases, sets and fine bindings, American and British literature, Japanese woodblock print books from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and travel and exploration. We buy and sell books in all these categories.

HOURS: We are open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Saturday and by appointment.

Through the years, we have issued over 50 catalogues of general antiquarian and literary materials, along with 30 catalogues relating to Japan and East Asia. Members of the firm travel extensively in America and Asia, to buy libraries and to attend bookfairs and auctions.

JAMAICA PLAIN, besides being the home of the Boston Book Company, is also an interesting tourist destination in its own right. The famed Arnold Arboretum is there, as is Jamaica Pond (where sailboats may be rented in summer). Franklin Park and its Zoo are nearby. There are many restaurants and architectural gems of the 19th Century in the neighborhood.

BOSTON BOOK ANNEX is our used bookshop at 906 Beacon Street, near the Brookline town line, not far from Fenway Park and Kenmore Square. The shop has been at this location since 1980, gradually expanding to occupy two adjoining sides of the ground floor of a brownstone. The Book Annex has approximately 100,000 volumes in stock in all categories. We are particularly strong in Political History, Literature and Art. Buying collections large and small as we do, though, almost any book can appear on our shelves! We stock paperbacks as well as hardcovers, and cater to the neighborhood as well as the academic community which surrounds us. Hours: 11 AM - 7 PM, Monday - Thursday; 11 AM - 9 PM, Friday and Saturday; Closed Sunday; telephone 617-266-1090.

DIRECTIONS TO OUR STORES

For DIRECTIONS and MAPS to find the stores, please follow the link to the appropriate page by clicking here:

Boston Book Company, 705 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, MA, 02130

Boston Book Company by Bus: Take the #39 bus toward Forest Hills. The bus stops at Centre Street at the corner of Burroughs Street right next to our building. The entrance is next to Cobwebs, the antique shop.

Boston Book Company by Subway: Take the Orange Line train toward Forest Hills. Exit at either the Green Street Station or Forest Hills Station. If you get off at Green Street turn left on exiting the station onto Green Street and walk three blocks to the intersection of Green and Centre Street. Cross Centre Street to the Post Office and turn left. Walk one block to the corner of Centre Street and Burroughs Street. The entrance is next to Cobwebs, the antique shop.

If you take the train through to Forest Hills Station you may take the 39 bus back up Centre Street, getting off at the corner of Centre and Seaverns Street which is one block from our shop.

Boston Book Annex, 906 Beacon Street, Boston, MA, 02130

UPCOMING BOOK FAIRS where we will be exhibiting: click here

BOOKS ALWAYS WANTED: Because we operate both rare and used book shops, we are able to purchase large and mixed collections and libraries that are beyond the scope of book specialists on one hand and used book dealers on the other. We are ALWAYS interested in purchasing collections, large or small, and can pay top prices. Call us at (617)522-2100 or toll free at (800)653-7767, or email us.

Our VIRTUAL BOOKSHOP, inventory search and order system, is among the oldest on the internet. We pioneered the first in-house Web-based, with an e-mail search system in place, as well.

Here are a few links that may be of interest.