More Moe's is now open Wednesday through Saturday 11-4
Since 1959 Moe's has been providing customers with fair and accurate valuations of rare and collectible books in a broad and expansive range of subject areas. While specializing in books on the fine arts, photography, and architecture, our rare books staff has a combined 75 years of experience appraising and evaluating scarce and unusual books in virtually every field of interest. Open from noon to 6 pm Wednesday to Saturday on our fourth floor, there is always an available staff member pleased to evaluate any books you might care to bring in. While waiting for your appraisal take a few moments to browse through our extensive inventory of rare and fine books, as well as a superb collection of books in literature, the sciences, illustrated books, fashion, exploration, and just about any other subject area imaginable. Bring us your books and come have a look at ours, you will find it a fascinating and rewarding experience.
Within Moe's Books there is a special Rare & Fine Arts book department, sequestered in its own room on the fourth floor of the bookstore. The origins of this "store within a store" will explain its being designated "More Moe's." The previous location of Moe's, in the 1960s and early 1970s, was two doors down from our current site. As the store grew and prospered, our inventory of expensively produced books and very scarce books and valuable centuries old books increased and created a need to segregate this group of books – to protect the books from damage that results from mishandling and other threats, all lessened by a more watchful husbandry.
Prior to this moment in time, a year or two perhaps, Moe had given over to small but zealous group of employees a large corner of the store to manage on their own. A proto-store-within-a-store, you might say. Headed by Sam Bercholtz, this group was blissfully enthusiastic about the science of the mind, mostly as experience, and all things Asian and mystical, topics enjoying a special vogue at the time. (Sam and his group would later move next door to found a separate book shop they named Shambala Books, which thrived until recently, and which also developed into Shambala Publications, still quite vigorous but now far from its home.) Perhaps the thought of diminishing further the general area of the growing business hatched the plan of an annex. Soon, in a small store front around the corner, More Moe's opened, with an inventory limited to the valuable rare and fine arts book collections, with limited hours of business, and with a staff limited to two, Gene Barone (now general manager of Moe's) and John Wong (the still reigning book wizard of More Moe's).
When Moe's moved into its new, four story building in 1978, More Moe's was returned to the fold, provided with about a third of the area of the fourth floor, walled off with handsome oak and large glass windows. The name More Moe's, however, with its overtones of "annex," had stuck. The staff was increased to four, and the shop within the store would be also now open seven days. and the collection continued to grow and deepen.
Around 1991, Moe's began to post books for sale on the internet – to the limit that commerce was permitted back in the early days. It quickly became evident that the inventory of More Moe's was the best candidate for cataloging: the items had value sufficient to return the additional cost of cataloging them, and a point of sale system, necessary to control the database, was most easily established for the segregated contents of the shop within a shop, More Moe's.
Today our internet sales worldwide are a major source of revenue for us; and our newfound international customer base increases the breadth of books we can expect to sell, in any language.
We always need good books. We make Trade and Cash offers depending on the books that you bring. Please call before you come so that we can be sure that we have room.
Our hours are 11-7 every day.
At Moe's, we buy all kinds of books at all hours, day and evening. You do not need an appointment (though you might give us a call if you have a large number of books to offer). We also have staff on-hand to make offers on antiquarian and more unusual titles.
What we buy changes all the time, depending on our inventory on-hand and what is currently selling (or not selling). We will look at anything you want to offer, but there are a few guidelines that might be helpful.
We can't tell you over the phone (or by e-mail) if we would buy a particular book, unless it is very unusual. We never make offers over the phone; we have to have the book in front of us to establish condition and edition. We can't really say what we will buy at any given time, but there are certain things we do not buy.
Condition is very important to us and our customers. Though there are a few exceptions, we generally do not buy books that have been underlined or highlighted. We do buy certain library discards, but they must be marked as such. We do not buy books that are damaged, moldy, or missing covers or spines.
We tend not to buy encyclopedias. We do buy some sets, but it is best to contact us ahead of time before lugging sets down to us. (You can always bring in a single volume from a set to give us an idea of what you are offering.)
We do not buy old editions of titles that are updated regularly, such as old textbooks, computer books, and travel guides.
We do buy textbooks, if current and being taken by our textbook partner. Because these aren't being sold in the store, condition and highlighting is less of a factor.
Having said all that, if you are not sure if we would be interested in some of the books you have, bring them anyway. Sometimes the most interesting books we see are the ones that people did not think were worth anything!
We pay based on a scale of what we hope to get for a book. While we make the highest cash offers around, we also have a liberal trade policy, with trade being good on all the used and remaindered books in our inventory as well as greeting cards. (Please note: trade issued at Moe's is not valid in More Moe's. The art shop buys for cash and trade also, but as a separate store.)