The BRATTLE BOOK SHOP takes this category again, and with good reason. This is one of the oldest antique bookstores in the country, founded in 1825, and if you’re looking for a book that’s old, rare, used, or some combination of the three, chances are that you’ll find it here. Proprietor Ken Gloss— whose family has owned the shop since the 1940s — is himself an encyclopedia of antique literature, and he serves as an appraiser (along with fellow Brattle employee Joyce Kosofsky) on Antiques Road Show. If you can’t reel ’em in with books, TV will do it every time.

THE BRATTLE BOOK SHOP | 9 West Street, Boston | 617.542.0210 | brattlebookshop.com