Welcome to Bell’s Books … A Bay Area Landmark for 86 Years

We are OPEN 11 to 5 every day of the week. Our hours are extended until 8 on Fridays.

Currently, we still require you to be fully masked before coming in to browse, and to use our hand sanitizer upon entry. Thanks for keeping everyone safe!

Please call 650-323-7822 if you have any questions. We are happy to fill specific requests, or to suggest good reading that can be picked up at our doors, depending on your comfort level. Also, please see our COVID Safety Policies

Check out the fabulous windows on our Instagram account: @windowsofbells 

…and our News page will let you know about our most recent happenings!

Recent months have brought us a cornucopia of rare book collections, including a large collection of first edition Caldecott Medal winners, with many signed by the illustrators. We also have signed editions by T.S. Eliot, H.G. Wells, Stephen King, and Robert Frost; first editions of David Foster Wallace, Jack Kerouac, Ursula Le Guin, A. A. Milne, and Virginia Woolf. In addition, a scarce 3rd edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein from 1832 has been added to our inventory. Also, we’ve added to the displays with new releases.

Located in downtown Palo Alto, Bell’s has served the Stanford University and Silicon Valley communities, providing new, used, and rare books since 1935.

Our century-old storefront houses 300,000 volumes on two floors. Spilling over with hardcover and quality paperback books in 500 subject categories, there is, quite literally, something for everyone at Bell’s: 

Fine bindings, large format art books, 19th Century treasures, second-hand reading copies of classics at affordable prices, children’s picture books, signed first editions, technical books, philosophy, an entire history room, handsome sets, ornamental horticulture, thousands of volumes of poetry, literature, architecture, religion, natural history and more…
 
We would love to help you build a collection of your own.

Bell’s purchases fine books and private collections.