The Monkey's Paw – Toronto, Ontario - Atlas Obscura
Places near me Random place

The Monkey's Paw

Toronto, Ontario

A book collector's dream, this Toronto bookstore has the world's first "Biblio-Mat," a random book vending machine. 

View all photos
The Bilio-Mat Courtesy The Monkey's Paw
The Bilio-Mat Courtesy The Monkey's Paw
Inside the bookstore Courtesy The Monkey's Paw
Inside the bookstore Courtesy The Monkey's Paw
The Monkey's Paw Courtesy The Monkey's Paw
Courtesy The Monkey's Paw
The Bibliomat machine kimikat (Atlas Obscura User)
The infamous Biblio-Mat in 2021 Cooth (Atlas Obscura User)
The Monkey's Paw Courtesy The Monkey's Paw
Storefront of the Monkey's Paw inspector pinto (Atlas Obscura User)
Biblio-Mat at Monkey’s Paw 45rpm (Atlas Obscura User)
842
2881
Top Places in Toronto
CN Tower with the Canadian flag
CN Tower Stairs
Toronto, Ontario
Sewers of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario
The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse
Toronto, Ontario
 See All

All of the books lining the shelves of Stephen Fowler’s bookstore are ones you couldn’t possibly find anywhere else.

Fowler opened The Monkey’s Paw in March 2006 and since then, it has been a haven for antiquarians, complete with medical drawings on the wall and a stuffed crow on a typewriter.

The unusual store, named after a horror short story by author W.W. Jacobs, has old books that range from topics as diverse as the art of predicting female character traits according to breast shape to Canadian Egg Laying Contests.

Fowler selects each book to fit these categories: the beautiful, the arcane, the macabre and the absurd. Monkey’s Paw also has a custom-made Biblio-Mat, a vending machine that will dispense a randomly selected vintage volume when a token is inserted. Tokens can be purchased from the checkout for $5 apiece.

Know Before You Go

The entrance is four buildings in from Havelock Street.

antiquities bookstores purveyors of curiosities repositories of knowledge shops collections
Nearby
The Wood Cake House
0.87 miles
Sewers of Toronto
1.54 miles
Casa Loma
1.69 miles
Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member.
Near This Place
Side of house.
Toronto, Ontario

The Wood Cake House

This knick-knack-covered house (complete with a matching van) is a charming oddity in the middle of a modest downtown neighborhood.
You could fit a lot of Ninja Turtles in there.
Toronto, Ontario

Sewers of Toronto

A well-preserved network of cavernous tunnels have spent silent centuries removing Toronto's waste.
Toronto, Ontario

Casa Loma

A 98-room castle in the middle of Toronto that bankrupted a 19th century electricity multimillionaire.
Toronto, Ontario

Bata Shoe Museum

A collection of more than 12,000 shoes, displayed in a building shaped like a shoebox.
Related Places
Los Angeles, California

The Last Bookstore

This iconic L.A. bookshop is housed in an abandoned bank—both symbolic and chic.
Bangkok, Thailand

Nightingale-Olympic

Time-frozen department store of dangerous and dusty relics.
Pen Hospital
Kolkata, India

Pen Hospital

For more than 70 years, this small shop has been a go-to for Kolkata's fountain pen connoisseurs and collectors.
Holden Wood Antiques
Lancashire, England

Holden Wood Antiques

This antique shop and tea room reside inside a twice defunct church that was moved stone by stone to its current location.
In partnership with KAYAK

Plan Your Trip

From Around the Web