Arches Bookhouse

Rooted in earth, pointed beyond

Who We Are

Arches Bookhouse is Adam, Jessica, and Sparky.

Arches is all of you, friends, neighbors, and fellow bibliophiles who make this a living, breathing oikonomia. 

Arches is the books. Records of other times, revenants of other places, and imaginations of other worlds. 

Adam McInturf is the proprietor. Mentored by an old-school bookman, Adam cut his teeth in the theological book world working for Jon Stock at Windows Booksellers for 16 years before taking over ownership of the Portland shop in 2022.

Jim "Sparky" Strickler is a bona fide "Original '88" bookselling veteran. If you received a book shipped with care, you can thank Sparky.

Jessica Medina retired from the professional wakeboarding circuit in 2022 to work as a book cataloger and weekend bookseller. We're thankful to haver her on the team! 

What We Are

There are three legs to the bookselling stool that is Arches Bookhouse. 

Browser's Paradise. We carry carefully curated sections of literature, poetry, history, art, and theology books as well as children's books, cookbooks, nature writing, Folio Society, and hundreds of $3 Mass-Market Paperbacks. Many of these books are not represented on the website.

Academic Outfitters. We excel in sourcing hard-to-find monographs, technical reference books, and critical editions of texts the scholar needs. We find these books by going "all in" on large collections of quality books any chance we get (see "Sell To Us"). These are the books you will find on the website here. We heartily recommend the "Want List" feature on this brilliant website which allows you to receive tailored notifications of new arrivals strictly in your areas of interest.

Rare and Antiquarian. We are always eager to feature unique material of any kind. We love sharing the joy and fascination of these books with our friends and customers. We share the more notable books in a monthly catalog of special acquisitions. Sign up for our mailing list to receive ONE (1) email a month with this catalog. Or drop by the shop and ask us what cool stuff has come through. 

Where We Are

Arches sits between the Willamette and Columbia Rivers in North Portland's Portsmouth Neighborhood. While there are many places which might allow us a more bustling walk-in trade, we choose to be here. We live a 10-minute walk from the shop, and it is a joy to participate in this reading community with our own neighbors.

Keep going a bit beyond us to the point of the peninsula and you'll cross the St Johns Bridge, Portland's greatest architectural monument (no, we are not biased and no, there is no close second). And there's our name. The books we love are like its arches: rooted in earth and pointed beyond.