City Basement Books

City Basement Books Ours is a general secondhand bookshop situated near Flinders Street Station in the city of Melbourne.

Thursday, and another day 'Adrift in Melbourne'. (Did you see what we did there?) Our first book is a favourite, not ...
10/09/2026

Thursday, and another day 'Adrift in Melbourne'. (Did you see what we did there?) Our first book is a favourite, not least because we feature in our of the seven walks. We did have someone recently find us by following that walk around our city, so thank you, Robyn!

We have some more of our recent arrivals to share with you, and further information on them and on all our listed items can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/yck6mu6p

There's Louis Nowra's 'Kings Cross: A Biography' and 'Woolloomooloo: A Biography', 'Collected Verse of John Shaw Neilson', 'Turkish Art', 'Hidden Hands: The Lives of Manuscripts and Their Makers', 'Infinite Variety. The Life and Legend of the Marchesa Casati', 'Mines in the Spinifex', 'Eden's Keepers: The Lives and Gardens of Humphrey Waterfield and Nancy Tennant', 'Arts and Crafts Gardens', 'Colour, Confusion and Concessions: The History of the Chinese in South Africa', 'Surrealism: Revolution by Night', and ever more.

Henry V is a favourite (but Henry VII not so much!) And in yet another lamentable gap in my knowledge, I have only just found out about the Marchesa Casati, Italian heiress, socialite, patron of the arts, and eccentric. She seems to have been a fascinating character. (Quentin Crisp wrote the foreword to the biography we have here, too.)

We hope you enjoy your day, book fiends, whatever you have planned. Take care out there, and read on!

We missed Monday- mea culpa, book fiends! A quick wave today, with some of our recent arrivals for good measure. Addit...
08/09/2026

We missed Monday- mea culpa, book fiends! A quick wave today, with some of our recent arrivals for good measure. Additional information on all our listed titles can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/2veseh59

However, there are many items we don't list, and the last picture below is one of those: a set of John Ruskin's 'Modern Painters'. It's a little worn, (aren't we all?) but it was published in 1873, so it's allowed to be!

Other titles today: 'Killing For Country' (David Marr), Richard Fidler's 'The Golden Maze', 'A History of the Irish in Australia', 'Isaac Isaacs', 'Australian Light Horse', 'The Silence Calling : Australians in Antarctica 1947 - 97. The Anare Jubilee History', 'Phar Lap', 'Benjamin Britten: A Biography', 'Ardennes 1944' (Antony Beevor), 'Koestler: : The Indispensable Intellectual', 'The Emperor Constantine', and more. Of course there's more!

My own picks out of this lot, difficult as it is to choose, are 'Laneways of Melbourne', and 'Killing For Country'.

This week's update will be a little irregular, so please bear with us, and our apologies in advance.

We hope the week is kind to all, wherever you may be. Take care, and read on.

Friday on our minds, and there seems to be a slight disturbance in the force today. We're not sure why, maybe it's simp...
04/09/2026

Friday on our minds, and there seems to be a slight disturbance in the force today. We're not sure why, maybe it's simply spring and the slightly longer days - there's certainly a little more light in the skies when we leave at the close of each day.

Some books for you to look at when you will, newly arrived in our basement, though one was published 100 years ago. There's Frank Clune's 'Journey to Pitcairn', 'Australia's First Spies', 'Simpson and the Donkey', 'Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer', 'Clinical Sports Medicine', 'The Use and Abuse of Australian History', 'Aspirin: The Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug', 'Arthur Phillip: Sailor, Mercenary, Governor, Spy', Richard Fidler's 'Ghost Empire', Gore Vidal's 'United States : Essays 1952 - 1992', and more. Further information on these and all our listings can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/2hj6rdy7

I think my pick for today must be Alfred Deakin's 'And be One People'; it seems like a noble aspiration, given the news of the day sometimes.

A reminder that we'll be here tomorrow from 10 till 2, if you're visiting our city and fancy a little browse for books. And whatever your plans, have a lovely weekend, book fiends, and a very happy Father's Day to all the dads and father figures out there!

A Thursday update, and we hope it's been a good week for you so far, all things considered. Events in the wider world ...
03/09/2026

A Thursday update, and we hope it's been a good week for you so far, all things considered. Events in the wider world can be overwhelming, so we focus on the books, hoping they provide some distraction when you need it.

While most of the books we feature are from our listed catalogue here: https://tinyurl.com/4ez8f7xf, the first item featured today is *not* listed, but is currently available. So if you should need a nice 6 volume set of Manning Clark's History of Australia, now's your chance!

Other titles below include: 'Waterloo Creek', 'Sacred Places : War Memorials in the Australian Landscape', 'Pemulwuy', 'Blake', 'The Essential Samuel Beckett: An Illustrated Biography', 'Maestro John Monash', 'The Irish in Australia', 'Flying High', 'The New Oxford Book of Australian Poetry', 'Miracle in the Andes', 'Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World' (Simon WI******er), 'Federation Fathers', 'The Age of Spiritual Machines', and more- there's always more!

The influx of chess books continues, and happily we've also lately had some good Australian history titles in. (I remember our classes at school eons ago being so dull- I'm sure it's different for young students today.) You can check out these and many more subjects via the link above.

Enjoy your day, book fiends. Look after yourselves, and read on!

Hello, book fiends! We have a nice lot of Australian history and biographies today, interspersed with a few other things...
01/09/2026

Hello, book fiends! We have a nice lot of Australian history and biographies today, interspersed with a few other things.

A reminder that additional information on these and all our listings can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/mpmv4dem

And now- to the books! They include Thomas Keneally's 'The Great Shame', 'Melbourne After the Gold Rush' (Michael Cannon), 'Yarra: A diverting history of Melbourne's murky river', 'Letters From Irish Australia 1825-1929', Nathan Buckley's 'All I Can Be', 'The Twofold Bay Story', 'The Fate of the Romanovs', 'Cyclone Tracy', David Boon's 'Under the Southern Cross', 'The 'Big Fella' - Jack Lang and the Australian Labor Party 1891 - 1949', 'The Man From Mars: Ray Palmer's Amazing Pulp Journey', 'The Human Condition', 'Draw in the Dunes' and more.

Spoilt for choice today in trying to select what to share with you, so we hope you've found something of interest, at least. And if not, well, there's always next time!

Look after yourselves, and enjoy this first day of Spring here in Oz!

We hope you had a lovely weekend, book fiends. It's Monday once more, and the readiness is all! We may not be quite re...
31/08/2026

We hope you had a lovely weekend, book fiends. It's Monday once more, and the readiness is all! We may not be quite ready, but if we say it convincingly enough, do you think that will work?!

Here we are with some books to start the week off: there are biographies on Edmund Barton, Alfred Deakin, Bertrand Russell, Bismarck, and Schliemann of Troy, amongst others. More titles include 'The Armies of Rommel', 'Bearbrass' (Robyn Annear), 'What Is To Be Done: Political Engagement and Saving the Planet' (Barry Jones), 'The War That Killed Achilles', 'Black Power', 'Revolution', 'Mudrooroo: A critical study', 'Restoration', Oscar Levant's 'The Memoirs of an Amnesiac' and 'A Smattering of Ignorance', and more besides. Further information on these and all our listings can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/bde3t7ky

My own picks today: 'Schliemann of Troy', 'Bearbrass, and 'The War That Killed Achilles'. I was pleased to make the acquaintance of 'Charles Cameron Kingston : Federation Father' too.

We hope the week ahead is a good one for you, in the face of wider events. Look after yourselves, and onwards...

Is that the weekend we see before us? Well, yes it is! But don't fret: we'll be here tomorrow from 10 till 2 as usual...
28/08/2026

Is that the weekend we see before us? Well, yes it is! But don't fret: we'll be here tomorrow from 10 till 2 as usual, if you're visiting our city and find yourself in need of a book.

Today's lot includes 'The Inklings' (Humphrey Carpenter's book on C.S.Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and their friends), several books on Australian Rules football (Collingwood-related, just so you're aware), 'A Distant Mirror' and 'Bible and Sword: How the British came to Palestine' both by Barbara Tuchman; 'Augustus Caesar', 'A History of Germany', 'The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization', 'Georgette Heyer's Regency World', 'The City in History' (Lewis Mumford), 'Double Cross: The True Stories of the D-Day Spies', and - there's always more! Further information on these and all our listings can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/fs6nj4d5

I can't go past 'The Inklings' today, though the biography of Charles Bean would be an interesting read, and Lewis Mumford's 'The City in History' is one I confess I've never yet read. Perhaps it's time!

Enjoy your weekend, book fiends. May it be relaxing, restful, and blessed with some time for reading!

No poltergeists to disturb our peace this morning (see previous post!), and that's a good beginning to our Thursday. Gl...
27/08/2026

No poltergeists to disturb our peace this morning (see previous post!), and that's a good beginning to our Thursday. Glass half full, and so on? Indeed!

We don't list everything, try as we might, and we don't feature every listed item here either, so this link may be useful if you're looking for something in particular. https://tinyurl.com/4mcntkdv
You never know what you might find!

Today's lot includes the 1968 Boyer lectures: 'After the Dreaming', 'Collingwood: A Love Story', 'Les Patterson's Australia'. 'In the Shadow of Sartre', 'Created in Japan', 'Julius Caesar and his Public Image', 'The Lamberts: George, Constant & Kit', 'Asian Diaries', 'Fishing in the Styx' (Ruth Park), 'Labor to Power', 'Colourful Trees for Australian Gardens', 'Alan Bennett's 'Enough Said', and ever more.

Two picks for today: Alan Bennett's 'Enough Said', and 'The Lamberts', being a tale of 3 generations. George was a war artist in Palestine and Gallipoli and became one of Australia's leading painters. His son Constant founded the Sadler's Wells ballet, while his grandson Kit was the manager of The Who. (Kit's godparents were William Walton & Margot Fonteyn, and his life by itself sounds fascinating, though it ended sadly.)

Bookshop note: just found a theatre ticket someone was using as a bookmark in 1991: when a seat to 'Phantom of the Opera' was $60. Not my favourite show, but this seems quite reasonable in retrospect!

Enjoy the rest of your Thursday, book fiends!

Hello book fiends, near and far. We began our day with a poltergeist making themselves known by casting a stack of boxes...
25/08/2026

Hello book fiends, near and far. We began our day with a poltergeist making themselves known by casting a stack of boxes to the ground: which sent jolts of energy through us, as you may imagine!

Order being restored, we're here to share some more of our recent arrivals with you, and a reminder that further information on these and all our listings can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/mukrruye

There's 'Glimpses of Heaven, Visions of Hell: Virtual Reality and its Implications', 'Florence : A Portrait', John Mortimer's 'The Oxford Book of Villains', 'American Widow' (a biography in graphic form), 'Queens of the Conquest' (Alison Weir), 'The Beauty of Numbers in Nature', 'Fins de Siècle: How Centuries End 1400-2000', 'The Encyclopedia of Melbourne', 'I, Caesar', 'Calculating the Cosmos', and more, more, more!

Including 'Shakespeare's Hamlet', Nicki Greenberg's beautifully produced graphic novel adaptation of Hamlet, and 'A Dictionary of Ancient Egypt'. Something for almost everyone? Perhaps...

Enjoy your day, take care of yourself, and read on!

Monday has come around once more, and we hope you had a grand weekend of it, book fiends. Here, I'm lost for words, whi...
24/08/2026

Monday has come around once more, and we hope you had a grand weekend of it, book fiends. Here, I'm lost for words, which is no doubt a relief for those of you who follow us on a regular basis!

So let's get straight into the books for today: 'Ruth Park's Sydney', 'Playing God: the rise and fall of Gary Ablett', 'A Short History of Australia' (Manning Clark), 'Communism: A Love Story', 'Once An Australian', 'China: A World So Changed', 'The Story of Palestine', 'The Loaded Line : Australian Political Caricature 1788-1901', 'Down Underground Comix', 'White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism', 'The Barren Years' (Robert Manne), 'Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years', 'Silence Kills', and ever more. Further information on these and all our listings can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/mtr8fc9e

There are two notable figures in Australia art amongst the titles for today: Hal Missingham's 'They Kill You In The End', a memoir from artist and long-time director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales; and 'The Most Noble Art of Them All' by Laurie Thomas, one-time director of the Art Gallery of Western Australia and later the Queensland Art Gallery, who was also an art critic and writer. So much to learn, so little time!

On with the dance. Have a wonderful day, one and all!

Address

342 Flinders Street
Melbourne, VIC
3000

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 6pm
Tuesday 10am - 6pm
Wednesday 10am - 6pm
Thursday 10am - 6pm
Friday 10am - 6pm
Saturday 10am - 2pm

Telephone

+61396200428

Website

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