Collectors and bookworms may be happy to learn that Eugene has a wide variety of antiquarian books — books that are no longer in print.
Contrary to what some may believe, however, books don’t necessarily have to be old in order to be antiquarian.
Book store owner Jeremy Nissel, who maintains J. Michaels Books in Eugene, said antiquarian books can be a week old or 100 years old.
“Antiquarian books can be anything that’s out of print,” he said. “It’s kind of a scary term.”
Nissel has a large collection of in-print and antiquarian books at his store — 75 percent of which are used — and has been in business since 1975.
“University students will be most interested in my collection of art, architecture, literature and photography books,” Nissel said.
J. Michaels doesn’t currently stock any books older than the 19th century; however, Nissel said in the past he has carried books from the 17th century.
Emerald City Fine Books, another antiquarian and used book store in Eugene, also has a wide selection of used and antiquarian books — 40,000 of them, to be exact.
“There are some books that have collectible value,” said Emerald City Fine Books proprietor Marc Weinstein. “But we also cater to the store-front crowd.”
Weinstein’s father, Jerry, who has been in the book business since 1962, opened the store in 1998.
The oldest book currently in Emerald City’s collection was printed in 1545 by Terentious, a Moroccan slave who gained freedom through his ability to write.
Weinstein contends that age is not an indication of quality, however.
Besides retail sales, Emerald City also has a substantial online service, selling between 300 and 500 books per month, both nationally and internationally.
“We believe that if it were not for the Internet, we could not have stayed in business,” Weinstein said. “The antiquarian book market in Eugene is limited.”

— Jan Montry