My wife and I are looking at downsizing, and we would like to find good homes for a load of English-language books. (Mostly fiction and ELT books.)

Thriftbooks would have been an option if they actually operated in Switzerland (which they don't) otherwise Ricardo/eBay are pretty lousy solutions – time consuming and costly.

I've looked at places like the Bücher-Brocky in Aarau but their handling of books leads me to think they recycle more than they rehome.

Any other suggestions?

by ralphonsob

12 comments

  1. I know of an English store and international school that take book donations but that’s in the Geneva area. Maybe you have similar setups where you’re located?

  2. For lausanne, there is the second-hand English book store named book book book.

  3. Bücherbergwerk in Bern would love your donation.
    https://www.buecherbergwerk.ch/

    Btw, they’re closed for renovation from 18th April on. So go afterwards as they currently can’t accept donations days before the renovation starts.

  4. Most second hand bookstores don’t take English books (or very few). There are few buyers. (I can see at public bookcases in my region: English books stay forever.)

  5. Put a little table outside your apartment, stack 10-15 books, add “free books” sign and restock as you go. This way you re-home and you are cost free.

  7. There are open book shelves in a lot of cities where people can bring and take books as they like. Maybe you can find one somehow close to you. 

  8. where are you located? I am an avid reader and would love to give some of your books a new home :))

  9. In Geneva there are spots (boxes standing on the street) that initially (my understanding) are meant to exchange books for reading. I put quite some French/ English books not long ago in a box like this. The next morning they disappeared. (I was curious to see what happens and looked the next day).

  10. Look for phone booth structures that have been reconditioned to be mini libraries, there’s a few scattered in canton Zug, so there must be some in Zurich. Fun way to give back to the community and downsize.

  11. Brokenstube and such (like emmaus) are already full of them, if you have the time I would suggest asking multicultural libraries (like in fribourg we have one called livrechange) which are looking for all languages books for immigrants; you could also check with immigration centers or international schools maybe
    Otherwise, I saw batches of books being sold on Ricardo (no need to say what’s in it precisely you could just say lot 1, 100 books, 10chf, no sending per mail)

  12. I would love to have a mini library at my home. My dad was a voracious reader but we lost his books in a move. I do plan to bring some of the remaining ones to Basel

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