The Dust Jacket

I’m a sucker for independent bookstores, especially ones with lots of old books. The owner is so knowledgable, friendly, and is willing to climb and crouch to look for the book you want. I have found a couple gems in this place, and they were affordably priced. There are a couple more that I would get if they were a little cheaper. A great place to browse and get lost in the world of books.

An independent bookstore with an incredibly knowledge, helpful, and interesting owner. I acknowledge some connection — the owner was my favorite high school teacher 30 years ago and I hadn’t seen him since. Browsing the shop and listening to him interact with other shoppers was an absolute delight. I plan to stop in every time I visit family in Ohio.

I love little bookstores tucked away in quaint towns, and the Dust Jacket nicely fits the bill. It’s not huge and the selection is limited, but they have good prices on books kept in good condition, so I’ll be sure to stop in again and again, hoping for a lucky find.
They also have a great collection of really old books up front.

It started when I parked in Mt. Lookout Square. Silly me, I automatically put a dollar in and was about to shell out 2 more (downtown, 3 bucks gets you about an hour or two in an uptown outdoor lot) the machine told me after $ 1 that that covered two hours of parking, one hour more than I needed. Pleased with this fact that Mt. Lookout parking is delightfully inexpensive, I finished my meeting and found myself with an hour to kill, I wasn’t about to ditch that coveted spot. I wandered into The Dust Jacket. What a dream. The man behind the counter told me he was just watching a «talkie» and if you heard fits of laughter, don’t worry. I laughed and continued into the store– a store with literally books on every surface. It wasn’t especially well planned out, and books weren’t under their categories. But this just added to the adventure. The store has great big picture books of every city imaginable– mostly from the 80’s or 90’s (Picked one of them up and the tallest building in the world at the time was the Sears Tower!) I will admit Iris Book Café in OTR has a better selection of design-​focused titles, but this shop has more of everything. Ever care to read about the birds of Norway? Perhaps a glance at ancient Chinese furniture dimensions? How about Microwave Cooking for One? One of my favorites had a title along the lines of «Computers are a Fad» There are books for everything! Enjoy it, take it in. Needless to say, I spent the entire hour in here.

What a wonderfully amazing store! After deciding to try and do as much of my holiday shopping in local stores as possible this year, I decided to head down to Mt. Lookout and The Dust Jacket and I am very happy I did so. Not only did I have a fun time looking through the thousands of books that The Dust Jacket has to offer, I found presents for multiple people on my list.
Located right off the square, The Dust Jacket specializes in rare and collectible books. That being said, this is not a book store for the casual reader. The books here are old, full of character, and last but not least, on the more expensive side. However, if you appreciate the history that comes with a book published a hundred years ago, this place is for you.
On top of their excellent selection of books, The Dust Jacket is also complimented by its more than friendly owner whom is more than willing to help you find what you are looking for as well as talk about literature, history, and anything else you could think of. Next time you are in the market for a good book, give The Dust Jacket a try!

Wandering around the square, I found myself in the Dust Jacket, and what a neat place!
The layout is a bit crazy, but at the same time, it’s what makes this place so neat. The collection seems to be built on the passion and love for literature, rather than just to pump out sales — refreshing!
As I have a huge collection of The Franklin Library at home, I asked the clerk about the series and just some questions about how much he thought it could be worth someday, we also just got to talking a bit about the future of the book industry, where he thinks it’s going, etc.
Was a great chat and I really enjoyed the place. This is definitely worth a stop by if you’re in Mt Lookout Square!

Walking into this store is like walking into a bookstore in the 1800’s. Well almost. The collection of impressive historical texts is somewhat overwhelming. They have some new stuff too!
I saw too many civil war texts to count! Everything is used and priced really well. You could spend a long amount of time in this store just to look all the sections crammed into this tiny little storefront.
In the cookbooks section I found the cutest little book that lists Cincinnati’s Parks and includes a full picnic meal of recipes to bring to the park! I guarantee you’ll find a gem just for you in this store!