Bookstores specializing in Antiquarian Books

Incorporated in 1980, A. Parker's Books has been located in downtown Sarasota, Florida for over thirty years. We have consistently offered one of the finest selections of rare and antiquarian books in the Southeast. Our knowledgeable staff and our high level of integrity are demonstrated and monitored by our professional memberships in the Florida Antiquarian Booksellers Association (FABA), Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA), and International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB). More than a decade ago, we merged our stock with a neighboring bookstore, Book Bazaar, Inc. Our Sarasota storefront has since housed two distinct shops; A. Parker's Books, Inc., continues to specialize in antiquarian, rare and finely bound books and maintains a rare book room which is the highlight of many visits to the store, while Book Bazaar, Inc., fills the majority of the space with an array of used, out-of-print and scholarly books. Together, we aspire to offer something for everyone, from the avid reader to the investment collector. Our commitment to customer service and variety is demonstrated by repeat visits from tourists, both foreign and domestic, as well as the hours many local residents spend among our stacks. After merging with Book Bazaar, we opened a new shop in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, incorporated as Crescent City Books, Inc. Later a fourth store, Commonwealth Books, Inc. was opened in Boston, Massachusetts on the Boston Common. This store has recently moved to the Downtown Crossing area. Each has its own specialties and atmosphere while continuing the traditions of maintaining friendly and knowledgeable staff and providing a wide variety of out-of-print, scholarly, rare and antiquarian books. It is not surprising that both have become favorites in their own communities. A fifth store, Commonwealth Books II, is now open in the historic Old South Meeting House on Boston's Freedom Trail. and is a welcome addition to our family. With the addition of a new store, we now serve five communities of book enthusiasts. With the Internet, we serve an ever expanding global community. While Internet sales can never replace the experience of stepping into a shop brimming with wonderful old books, it can connect booklovers to items they might not have otherwise found. It is our goal to provide a pleasant browsing or buying experience to all of our visitors, both physical and virtual. We hope this web site helps to achieve that goal and that you enjoy your visit here. We also hope that if you find yourself in Sarasota, New Orleans, or Boston, you will stop in and spend some time with our books.

We are former bricks & mortar book and antique & collectibles store owners, now selling only online. We try to provide the best shopping experience for you that is possible, and we pride ourselves on our excellent customer service and our ethics. We adhere to the ethics specifications of IOBA (Independent Online Booksellers Association). All our books are first editions / first printings in dustjackets (where issued), unless otherwise noted in the description field of each book. Specialties are literature, modern firsts, signed and / or limited editions, authors' first books, horror / sci-fi / mystery, earth sciences including plants / animals / ecology / environmental / archaeology / anthropology, Native American, mythology, antiquarian books, and a selection of (mostly sci-fi and mystery) paperback originals.

Established in 1979, Boston Book Company offers rare, scholarly books in all fields. Our areas of particular expertise: 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, travel and exploration, and scholarly books about Japan and Asia. We buy and sell books in all these categories.