Magus Books

Magus is everything you want in a bookstore. The staff are helpful and knowledgeable. The selection and pricing are great. It is on the top of my places I go to whenever I am in Seattle.

Love, love, love this bookstore. I’m in every couple of months and work very hard at putting blinders on to focus on a couple of sections at a time. There are just too many treasures. Very strong history, political and literary fiction sections, as well as excellent kids books. I’ve traded books here often, and though they are very selective (which makes for a great collection), they pay very fairly.

Currently my favorite used book shop in Seattle. I always find something of interest here — almost always reasonably priced. I am always surprised at the plentiful rarities to be found on these shelves — I guess, being next to the University of Washington provides a pipeline of good stock. Unfussy, friendly atmosphere, and the staff works hard to keep the shelves stuffed with goodies, but not so overflowing you an’t comfortably browse. They have a fast turn, so the stock refreshes quickly. They know books and they know how to run a good, solid bookshop — if you love poking around old bookstores, you’ll love Magus.

Had dinner there tonight and they are friendly, fast and the pizza is really good and reasonably priced. Would be 5 stars if there was s little better atmosphere there but really have not complaints about these guys!

I don’t think there is enough praise to be sung for Magus. The phrase «small but mighty» seems to be fitting for this place.
If you are looking for rare and hard to find books this is the place to look. The shelves are packed with old and new books alike. There always seems to be new material coming in weekly.
The staff are always happy to help and are really friendly. If you have a question be sure and ask. I’ve received some really good recommendations just from casual chit chat.
Even with my very small niche of Nordic foreign literature, I’ve managed to find a lot of Knutsen printed in Norwegian and a few Icelandic authors in their foreign language section.
If you don’t come out with any books you haven’t been looking. Even if you only have a few minutes to kill browsing, you’ll find this place pretty amazing.

Secret book store near uni of Washington. Extremely helpful storekeeper. They sell all kinds of used or vintage books. I am not a huge fan of books but I also ended up buying 4 books during my first visit.

I’m not afraid of heights but I am well aware the fact that there are mischievous spirits that live more than 8 feet off the ground and would be more than happy to pull me down
Cousins of these same spirits live in those dying dens of prose, used book stores. Magus is one of their great homes. Spirits living in shelves with names like bugs, pirates and the juvenile giggle inducing, watersports. Mitchell, Grass, Borges all yanking my chain. Finally I succumbed to the Compendium of Cockroach’s and Shel Silverstien.
The soft spoken, friendly guardians know the name and location of every spirit here.
Not wearing diapers and no pizza nor beer, I was finally able to to break free of their siren call.

This place is dangerous if you’re a book lover like I am. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve walked in for a casual browse and left with a few books and a huge smile on my face. The store is small and there are books up to the ceiling, and you can really just lose yourself in here. They have an amazing selection of books about anything you can think of. The books are in good condition, they stock interesting editions, and the prices are reasonable. I’d say at least half of my bookshelf comes from Magus. I’ve purchased a lot of quality fiction here, and I’ve found a lot of bestseller-​type books as well.
If you love books of any kind and want to support independent business in Seattle, definitely block out an afternoon to explore this place.

Here is an exercise for you.
Go to one of those ‘big box’ new stores that are a chain, then give yourself an hour or two to browse here.
«I have wandered, unchecked, in a garden of bright images’.
This store is very dangerous. I fell in love with a $ 250 dollar book on crows, that had a crow on the spine, and would have bought it had it not been my food money for a month.
I have found the best history, paleontology, and poetry here, in wonderful bindings, at good prices. That $ 250 dollar book was an aberration.
There is one lady who calls out my name when I walk in, so they are friendly, too, and have good memories as I only come in once every six months or so (but I do buy books).
There is NO other bookstore that is in its class in this state for acadmeic books. And Powells, say, in Portland, does not have the selection, book by book, this place has, even though it is bigger. .
You want a Loeb classic? Check — got it. You want a good geology book — got it. You want Moby Dick in hardback? Got it.
If you are going to be in the University District, do not miss this place, if only to go and see what a used bookstore should look like.

Great big selection in a charming cramped space. They had books that spanned several subjects, some broad and a few pretty specific. I also noticed a section for books on guitar, which I thought was cool. I ran into the philosophy section and instantly saw a lot of great stuff I’ve never seen before but relevant to my dissertation. I was to see if they had any psychotherapy books, though. Well, they didn’t really have anything practical, but I was delighted with their psychology section, nonetheless. They had almost every Freud collection and a bunch of great stuff, like R.D. Laing, Klein, Jung, and some stuff that is a little more contemporary as well. If I wasn’t so focused and in a bit of a rush I could have lost myself in this little store.
It’s right off the Ave, so the parking is what it is. I didn’t need any help and sadly couldn’t buy anything today so I can’t comment on customer service. The few books that I checked the price of seemed reasonable for used.

Amazing selection, well-​organized, friendly & helpful staff. I love just coming here to browse!

Magus is a stop on virtually every trip I make to the U District. I’m still new-​ish to Seattle (going on three years now), so I could be missing a better used bookstore in the greater Sound, but I’m starting to doubt it. I’ve got a system in place: Religion first (specifically Judaica), then Philosophy, and finally Foreign Languages with breeze-​bys through Classics, Mid-​East History and General Linguistics. I almost never fail to find something in Judaica to take home and they seem to have a real knack for acquiring personal libraries and collections from estate sales and such. Philosophy is also pretty reliable. I’ve made lots of trips to the Hebrew/​Yiddish section (note: they are two different languages, so I’m always annoyed when booksellers collapse them into one category) and haven’t always found something new there, but when I have found things, they’ve been doozies (ex: a six-​volume Hebrew edition of the Mishna in excellent condition for just under $ 45 — I think I cried a little). The other areas I hit are solid as well, and I’ve found some unusual fiction that I wasn’t expecting to find used.
My partner reads a lot of mystery/​police procedural stuff, and he usually finds something to take home, too. Though their science fiction section is good, one area where they are sorely lacking is horror. There’s a separate section, but it seems to me that they’ve never internalized the idea that it is a truly separate genre from sci-​fi and thus they don’t seem to be as aggressively on the lookout for it as for other sorts of books. There are a lot of sections I haven’t explored (either for lack of time or money, having spent both of them), but they look good from afar. The staff generally leaves me alone (which I prefer in a bookstore; if I need their help, I’ll find them), but when I have had questions they’ve been very helpful about pointing me in the right direction. Like I said, it’s on the itinerary for every visit to the U District and looks like it’ll be on there for a while.

I have mixed feelings about Magus. On the one hand, I’ve found something I had to have there more than once. That’s significant, because I’m at a place in life where if a book comes into the house, another one of equal size pretty much has to go. So I use the KCLS for my fiction habit unless I need a throw away for a trip, and typically only buy bass guitar books and motorcycle books to keep. On the other hand, the staff there seem snooty and distant. They’d probably like me better if I wasn’t such a lowbrow and bought literature instead of Harley picture books and transcriptions of bass lines for classic rock songs. Oh, well, they can’t keep me away.

My favorite bookstore in the county by far. I tell people if you can’t find what you’re looking for it’s because you found something better.

Magus Books has a giant inventory in such a tiny location! Their prices are fair, and the staff is friendly. It is a bit difficult to find items in their store because they have so many books, but once you go there a few times, you will get used to it. They also have mega-​discounted items outside on carts, which are always worth looking at. Check it out– this cute little store will not disappoint.

This place is ace. I’ve run bookstores. I know how hard it is to be organized and customer oriented. At Magus I found a knowledgeable, engaged staff, super helpful, and the books I needed.
The selection is terrific and prices are very fair. I’ll be paying more visits.

Magus’ selection is the perfect blend of the eccentric and hard to find with commoner books. It adheres to an organizational scheme, which puts it head and shoulders above other used bookstores and thrift shops.
Some Unilocalers complain about having higher prices or a worse selection than online retailers like
, but about 50% of Magus’ books are either unavailable on Amazon or beat Amazon’s price + shipping (most common paperbacks are under $ 4.00).
As a personal aside, Magus also has books in Greek and Latin, super fun to classics students, and they offer trade-​ins for cash or a greater amount of store credit.

Magus Books is a very charming used bookstore in the U District. There are so many books here on so many bookshelves. It’s great. They are organized by genre so it’s not a total mess.
Prices here seem to be ½ off the cover price or so.
Staff here are really nice.
I came here on a Thursday evening and I saw quite a few people browsing for books. Hopefully that is a sign that business is doing well. I saw some carts outside for $ 1-​$ 5 books.

Magus is my favorite used bookstore in the University District, and possibly all of Seattle. They have an amazing, quirky selection, even for a used bookstore. The employees are always helpful and courteous without being aloof, which is important in a bookstore.
I was in a couple weeks ago, and I picked up Raymond Carver’s Ultramarine, a poetry collection. I also came across a real gem: A first edition copy of Robinson Jeffers’ collection of poetry, the Double Axe. Naturally I had to get it.
I love Magus books, and its central location on campus means I’ll definitely pop in on a regular basis over the next couple years.

What a gem! This was our first time at Magus. A great selection of books. I had to put my pretend blinders on so I wouldn’t be taken in by the books calling out to me,
«Rinky, Oh Rinky – I know you want to take us home…»
I focused on the song books and sheet music, which they had several shelves and boxes worth. I found just the songs I was looking for — «Rainbow Connection» and
«Cheek to Cheek.»
I found myself humming the melody to «Cheek to Cheek.»
«Heaven, I’m in Heaven, My heart beats so that I can hardly speak…»
Magus is heaven but a dangerous heaven where’ll you’ll find one too many books that strike your fancy.
Very friendly and helpful staff.
I also noticed the great camaraderie among the staff — always a good sign!