Welcome to Motte & Bailey Booksellers


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We are a used and rare bookshop in Ann Arbor Michigan, with both more common and antiquarian books.  We focus on American and European history, Books About Books, children's books, and scholarly titles. We have 8500 books in all subjects, with over 2,700 catalogued on our site in over 50 catalogs. New arrivals are always listed here before we post them to the internet bookselling sites.

To keep our stock interesting and growing, we buy individual books or entire libraries across our region. Also, when you visit our shop and choose 2 of our books, you get a 3rd book priced $12 of less free, each and every day, any quantity.

We are one of the few remaining booksellers in our area who perform appraisals for estate, donation, or insurance purposes. See links to to your left for more information.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or if are looking for a hard to find book. If you prefer to call, our phone number is 734.669.0451. Our hours are Mon -Sat 10-7 p.m., closed Sundays. However, you may call for an appointment. 

Featured Items

Attempt to Investigate Some Obscure and Undecided Doctrines in Relation to Small-Pox [Smallpox], Varioloid and Vaccination.
Bell, Luther V.
Boston: Marsh, Capen and Lyon, 1836. Fair octavo hardcover in brownish binding without dust jacket. Wear and rubbing to edges of boards with bumping to head.. more
Price: $150.00
Horned Giants : Hunting Eurasian Wild Cattle.
Brandt, Capt. John H. (USPHS ret.).
Long Beach, CA: Safari Press, Inc., 1996. Octavo (standard size). Slight wear to edges and corner of slipcase and boards. SIGNED by author and numbered (199 of.. more
Price: $240.00
Folio. Price clipped dj has tears at front bottom and at right front corners, and a pieces missing from lower spine and back cover. Upper left corner of dj back crinkled. Cellophane tape stains to areas around tears. Corners and lower edges of boards have noticeable wear. Front board illustration bright, with only light soiling to covers. Interior clean and bright, no marks. British illustrator Kathleen Hale (1898-2000) is best known for her Orlando books, of which this is the second in that series of 19 books. For her beloved work she was recognized when she was given the Order of the British Empire in 1976. Uncommon, more so in a dust jacket of any condition. A good addition to any collection of British illustrators. Orlando the Marmalade Cat : A Trip Abroad.
Hale, Kathleen O.B.E.
London: Country Life, 1939. Folio. Price clipped dj has tears at front bottom and at right front corners, and a pieces missing from lower.. more
Price: $500.00
Racing for the America's Cup : the Great Romance of Yachting History.
Kemp, Lieutenant Commander P. K., R.N.
London: Hutchinson & Co., 1937. Octavo (standard size). Heavy wear and chipping to edges and corners of dj, with a few short closed tears. A.. more
Price: $85.00
Thick quarto. Original binding. Page edges and endpapers marbled, gilt tooling to edges of boards. Slight wear to edges and corners. Slight scuffing to boards and spine. 1 pages with a wide crease near corner. Another page has 2 very small tears at foredge. 602 p. w/all plates , ads,and maps. An early classic war narrative of a major Confederate general officer, in very attractive condition with a more uncommon binding. Johnston's sometimes bitter reponse to his war critics and foes, notably Jefferson Davis. Tends to underestimate Confederate numbers and overestimate Union force figures. Howes J-167, Eicher 257. Dornbusch III 1399. Narrative of Military Operations, Directed, During the Late War Between the States by Joseph E. Johnston.
Johnston, Joseph E.
New York, NY: D. Appleton & Company, 1874. Thick quarto. Original binding. Page edges and endpapers marbled, gilt tooling to edges of boards. Slight wear to edges and.. more
Price: $200.00
A Bibliography of the State Of Ohio : Being a Catalogue of the Books and Pamphlets Relating to the History of the State ; With Collations and Bibliographical and Critical Notes, Together with the Prices at which Many of the Books have been Sold at the Pri
Thomson, Peter G. [ Gibson ].
Cincinnati, OH: the author, 1880. Thick Quarto (oversized). SIGNED and inscribed by the author to a prominent OH physician, Dr. Cyrus Falconer, in 1893 on.. more
Price: $375.00
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A novel has to be exceptionally good to live as long as the average cat. -- Hugh MacLennan
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