Who We Are

The two partners in Coelacanth Books are Rebekah Bartlett and Carey Shain. We both have collected books for 20+ years and have worked hard over the past seven to become dedicated, professional booksellers, in addition to writing, editing, and teaching. We research all our books and evaluate condition carefully and in detail, and are always ready to answer questions.

How did we choose our name? The coelacanth (see-lah-kanth) is a prehistoric fish that was thought to have gone extinct millions of years ago, until one turned up in 1938 in the Indian Ocean. They've been found since in a few other places, but their future is under threat. The books we like remind us of coelacanths -- elusive, unusual, and in the face of abuse/neglect & technology, suprisingly at risk. Coelacanths are beyond beauty, beyond history, a testament to resiliency and survival. What can we say? We like them almost as much as we like books.

What We Buy

We buy individual and small collections of books in our areas of interest, including history, geography, Americana, science, nature, preferably 19th century or early 20th. We generally do not buy fiction unless signed. Our buying area is New England. If you live elsewhere we can put you in touch with professional book dealers who might be interested in evaluating your books.

Book Search & Book Acquisition Services

Yes, you can do your own online searches & buying, but it is becoming more and more difficult to buy books satisfactorily on the Internet. There are just too many "fly by night" dealers and too many poorly described books.

Thus we offer free book searches where the results sent to you include only professional, vetted booksellers whom we know directly or by reputation. We can make direct inquiries with a large network of such booksellers.

Other Help

Need an electronic copy of a book, an author bio, a bibliographic reference, or a set of auction records? Not sure which copy of a book to buy? Drop us a line and we'll try to help!