Secondhand booksellers are frequented by those who want to breathe in the smell of old books and get lost in the world of rare books, records, and comics. You can have a nice book chat with a hot tea at the secondhand booksellers and commemorate the old days with aged records. Of course, not every secondhand bookstore offers such opportunities today, and many see business only as a trade.
In our list, you will find secondhand booksellers (sahaf in Turkish) who try to keep the secondhand book culture alive and do not see books as just objects.
“Diyojen Sahaf” is perhaps one of the most colorful shops on Şair Nedim Street, the district of Beşiktaş, which has become very popular with its new venues opened one after the other in recent years. The place, which attracts your attention with its green walls and yellow awning under the brick red-painted apartment, invites you inside with the postcards and books displayed at the door.
Denizler Kitabevi, which was established in Beyoğlu in 1993, has a wide collection of rare books, old maps, and other precious antiques as well as operating in the field of publishing. Denizler Kitabevi, which specializes in maritime and history issues, contains a great cultural heritage.
Beyoğlu Second-hand Book Bazaar is a unique treasure for a secondhand book lover who visits Taksim and Istiklal. The side door of the bazaar, which makes you feel like in a wonderland with old records, magazines from countless languages, books, movie posters, also allows you to go on a historical journey with antique objects, sculptures, jewelry, clocks, and brooches.
When you go up a little bit from Kadıköy's famous Akmar Passage, you come across İmge Sahaf. In addition to books, it is possible to find many valuable and rare works in this bookstore. They also display these rare works with their prices on their own website.
When compared to other secondhand booksellers, Gezegen Sahaf is a little younger. Founded in 2007, this secondhand bookshop is full of books in Ottoman, English, German, and many more languages, as well as Turkish books.
In addition to these, of course, it is possible to find many rare artifacts in Gezegen Sahaf.
Are there any books you've been looking for a long time but couldn't find? Or do you want to meet your favorite authors in the bookstore you go to... Then your address is clear: Simurg Kitabevi & Sahaf, famous for its mischievous cats and famous regulars. It has been serving as a bookstore and publishing house since 1982 with its collection of more than 40,000 old and new books. So much so that it is possible to find books from the 1500s in the bookstore.