About

The TCD Secondhand Booksale was the idea of Daphne Wormell who gathered a group of TCD graduates and staff in 1989 to organize a sale of secondhand books to raise funds for the College libraries as their contribution to the Quatercentenary of Dublin University.  A history of the sale in a Box of Books tells our story from 1990-2014

The TCD Association & Trust administers the funds raised, and the Friends of the Library have supported the sale since the start.

The sale now involves current and retired staff and students as well as graduates. 

Books are accepted throughout the year at the Goldsmith Hall on Pearse Street where volunteers sort, price and box them for the annual sale in the Exam Hall.

A smaller one-day sale for students is held in the Goldsmith Hall at the start of the academic year.

Since the first sale in 1990 the Booksale has raised over €500,00 net and has given over €450,000 in grants.  Grants are allocated through the TCD Association and Trust to the College libraries for research materials.  Among the many items the grants have helped to buy are a book from Dean Swift’s personal library, a Victorian map of Londonderry and 18th century French political pamphlets, as well as modern scientific texts not otherwise available to the College libraries.