FAQ
Q: Where can I find you?
U8 U-bahn station Schönleinstr
Q: When are you open?
Open 12.00 to 20.00 Monday to Saturday
Closed Sundays
Q: I have a request/thought/idea/complaint/complement, how can I best contact you?
A: Email us at hello@ivallansbooks.com. We hare on social media too, Bluesky (gladly) and other reluctantly but we check and reply to email most consistently and reliably during opening hours.
Q: I emailed you but didn’t get a response. Are you ignoring me?
A: Apologies, we are a small shop and sometime we miss things including emails. If you haven’t heard back from us in a couple of days, please write to us again! The person working will get back to you ASAP during working hours. We never deliberately ignore any messages, we’re sometimes just overwhelmed and forgetful. Please always ask again or check if we’ve forgotten, we won’t mind multiple messages if we haven’t properly answered.
Q: Can I order books from you?
Yes! Email us at hello@ivallansbooks.com and see Ordering Books for more details
Q: Do you only have English books?
A: The answer is mostly yes besides a few exceptions for close friends of the shop sharing their books in German or Danish.
Q: Do you have new books as well as second-hand?
A: We sure do! When we say second-hand and exceptional we mean we love second-hand books and the stories added by the hands that have held them and read them before they get to us. We also have a range of new books that our customers have asked for and many more from underrepresented and under-appreciated authors outside of the stale, male and pale ‘western’ canon.
Q: Who is Ivallan?
A: Ivallan was Jimmy’s grandfather’s name. He had two uncles, Ivan and Allan. His parent’s (Jimmy’s great-grandparents) couldn’t decide which uncle to name him after and weren’t in the business of giving multiple middle names (Graeme was already in the mix), so they landed on the rather unorthodox idea of simply combining them. So Jimmy’s grandfather was the first and only Ivallan until we opened our doors in 2021. He was a teacher and besides teaching Jimmy to read he instilled a lifelong love for books and bookshops spending whole summers trawling through the dusty shelves of Melbourne’s weird and wonderful (and now mostly disappeared) bookshops. When Ilya and Jimmy were trying to think of a name for our ridiculous enterprise we could think of nothing better than a tribute to this person who was directly responsible for at least one us wanting to do this in the first place. Graeme Ivallan Duke died December 18, 2021, fourteen days after we celebrated our opening.
Ivallan is also the name of our shop and the name of the creature who symbolises our shop. A book cat spirit in the tradition of Irish Púca, it is a creature that represents and inspires us and is represented in our logo and images that we ask a new artist to interpret every year. A shape-shifting and mischievous spirit like a book by any other cover, we like to think Ivallan lurks amongst the shelves, equally responsible for strange shelving of an antique bible in the category ‘Poor decisions and worse outcomes’ as well as the occasional book that perfectly matches a visitor’s need despite no one recalling ever receiving it or adding it to our inventory.
Q: Will you stock my book? Will you stock my zine?
A: If you’ve published a book or zine in English that you think matches our store and somewhat odd collection then we’d love to hear from you. Given the size of our shop, unfortunately we have to say no to things that we don’t think suit our store or customers and can often only take small stock amounts. We prioritise local authors and publishers from our neighbourhood and community as well as groups under-represented in the mainstream publishing world,
Q: Will you display my art or sell my non-book stuff?
A: Generally no. We are a small bookstore with little extra space for non-book items. You’re always welcome to ask but we don’t have much room for things besides books.
Q: Can I host my book club / book launch at your store?
A: We love to host book related events! To be very clear, we are not a professional event space. This means we cannot offer the full amenities the can be expected from professional space. But if you are looking for a venue that can squish in max 20 people for a weird and wonderful evening surrounded by lovely books and people then we can help. Because we are not a professional event space we do not charge but we expect event organisers take responsibility for organising and promoting their events and we do accept donations to help cover the cost of staff. Most events occur outside of opening hours (before 12.00 or after 20.00) but we can arrange start a bit earlier or later for special events. Please contact us via email at hello@ivallansbooks.com