Motte & Bailey Used & Rare Booksellers
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mottebooks.com
Motte & Bailey Used & Rare Booksellers
@mottebooks.com
Motte & Bailey is a what - a medieval Norman castle, a wooden palisade rising on a mound of earth.
We're an open #bookshop specializing in the many kinds of history, alongside Lit, SF/F, Kids books & more. #Michigan #rarebooks #usedbooks #booksky
2 Uncommon British Revolver titles :

Stamps and Skennerton
.380 Enfield No. 2 Revolver
Greenhill Books, 1993

Layman
The British Bulldog Revolver : the Forgotten Gun that Really Won the West!
Mowbray. 2006

See them on our new arrivals page here:

www.mottebooks.com/new-arrivals...
December 14, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Kind of counter-seasonal, but -
For sale :
Alan Boureau
Satan the Heretic : The Birth of Demonology
Chicago, 2006

You can order this from out website, link below
#books #Satan #Medieval #Demonology #Aquinas #usedbooks

www.mottebooks.com/details.php?...
December 14, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Not often we get a two-fer like this on a house buy - the Ash & Lake book was sitting on top of the Broel Book:
#usedbooks #books #frogs #bookshop #booksky #usedbookshop #rarebooks
December 11, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Amazon now listing books as so much price per kilo is peak modern online bookselling, no doubt.😂👍

How embarrassing for them, if they ever could be embarrassed. Just unthinking one size fits all online retailing.
September 20, 2025 at 8:56 PM
We are the best academic history bookshop between Chicago & the East coast, and Toronto & the Gulf of *Mexico*. Come see our extensive holding in Ancient, Medieval, Military. US, European, Indian, Transport, MesoAmerican & other areas of history.
#usedbooks #history #ancienthistory #historybooks
September 11, 2025 at 9:44 PM
New Arrivals Friday!

This week we have few non-fiction leather bound Easton Press titles, the first bits of a large Indian (south Asia) history collection, interesting & timely US history books, & a smattering of culinary, lit, and art books.
#books #usedbooks #EastonPress #newarrivals #history
September 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
I picked this up at a storage locker on Sunday. It's an ad for little French clockwork car toy - Auto-Radar 2003 by Joustra - from the 1940s with multiple movement directions. The toy goes for a small chunk 'o change today. I'll put it in the car section for decoration.
#toys #cars #ephemera
September 1, 2025 at 10:18 PM
/3 Between the wars he was a writer, actor, & business man & became a naturalized citizen in 1933. When WWII began, he joined again, helping plan the D-DAY invasion w/the US Air Corps. He won another Croix de Guerre as well as a US Bronze Star. He died in the US in 1964 & is buried at Arlington.
August 12, 2025 at 6:26 PM
/2 Buswell was born in England, but was lining in the US. He volunteered early on and won a Croix de Guerre for valor during the war. When the US joined the war, he joined the Signal Corps.
August 12, 2025 at 6:26 PM
1/ In these days of targeting almost all Immigrants, we came across a book showing the great contribution of just one of these.

Leslie Buswell volunteered for the American Ambulance Field Service & had a book of letters about his war experiences published :
#ww1 #immigrant #militaryhistory #books
August 12, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Also arriving are some cool new Photography books, to be added into our photography section. Check out the new arrivals in the shop and online on our website.
#annarbor #usedbooks #photographers #photographybooks
July 23, 2025 at 4:58 PM
For those new 1960s Brides out there.. Mrs. Wason has all the cooking tips in this new arrival! Come visit her book and all our other cooking & culinary books at the shop.
#usedbooks #annarbor #cookbooks #vintagebooks
July 23, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Enjoy #MotteMonday

Hint: not about books :)
July 21, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Interesting new arrival : the oversized TINTIN POSTER BOOK

Surprising scarce, but some great images from the books. Come by and take a look at our shop for now, but find it on our website next week. #tintin #annarbor #books #posters
July 19, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Here's a Poster a lot of people ask us about - a little hard to see from reflections, and we added a bit to drive the point home. #NoTyrants

We don’t have extra copies, but you can find out more about this poster at :
bsky.app/profile/ryan...
July 18, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Here's ours - a little hard to see from reflections, and we added a bit to drive the point home :
July 18, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Hello all -

We just got in a lot of leatherbound Easton Press books of literature in lovely shape. Below is a picture of some of them. If you are looking to add to your collection of Easton press works or just want a great looking copy of a favorite classic, drop by.
#booksky #usedbooks
July 5, 2025 at 10:20 PM
/8
So that is our summary of Motte & Bailey. You can find out more, like our buying polices and hours, on our website. IF you have questions, don't hesitate to call, or drop us a DM or email.
And remember our motto - "you can have any book we sell for free - it just depends on what else you buy".
July 5, 2025 at 10:12 PM
/7
As for other items we sell, we like posters with a strong graphic design element to them, rather than one of artworks or simply images. We look for prints that mirror our books, and ephemera on similar topics as well.

We also sell buy and sell board games, and check each one for completeness.
July 5, 2025 at 10:12 PM
/6
Our bookselling philosophy is to select works we think are better books in any subject, not b/c they're expensive or rare. Paperbacks are as good as hardcovers.

We are more selective about fiction & follow the saying "a novel has to be exceptionally good to live as long as the average cat".
July 5, 2025 at 10:12 PM
/5
That said, we also have sections for Kids chapter & picture books, literature, poetry, mystery, mythology, firearms, Europe & Asia, Art, film, music, history of science, US history, chess, cooking & culinary history, books about books, & more.

So a bit on many topics, carefully chosen.
July 5, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Thanks for dropping by! The thread below is an introduction to Motte & Bailey Used and Rare Booksellers in Ann Arbor, Michigan - our story, our shop, our stock, and our bookselling philosophy. /1
#usedbookstore #indiebookstore #Michigan #AnnArbor #booksky #usedbooks #rarebooks
July 5, 2025 at 10:12 PM