My wife Stephanie is a singer/songwriter who tours a few times each year in the United Kingdom. I join her on these trips playing the violin & guitar and scouring every bookshop within a 50 mile radius of our location. We just returned home late last night and here are some London bookshops that blew my mind:
Foyles
This multi-level bookstore is a pleasure to peruse. I’ve seen a photo of this quote before on social media and now I know where it’s from (“Welcome book lover, you are among friends.”). This store is heavy on paperbacks. It has a pretty good classics section with a special area for hardcover Everyman’s Library editions. This is one of the bigger bookstores I visited and their focus is solely on new books. They do not have a pre-owned or rare section.
Peter Harrington
100 Fulham Rd. Location
This is one of the most marvelous bookshops I’ve ever visited. I’ve followed Peter Harrington for a while on the socials and they specialize in rare, beautifully-bound, pre-owned books. As I walked in, the bookseller provided a quick overview of the store’s layout. Fiction on the right, non-fiction on the left. There was also a basement area with sets of books. I imagine this is what a bookstore would be like in heaven.
I was enamored with the fiction section. Most of the books are first editions and many of them are signed. The bookseller saw that I was interested in a particular author and showed me a signed book they had just got in by that author. I promptly purchased it.
As I left the store, I was told to go to the second location and ask to see the Tolkien in the basement.
Peter Harrington (2nd Location)
43 Dover St. Location
This was the single most incredible bookstore I’ve ever visited. I did as instructed and asked to see the Tolkien in the basement. Little did I know that I would be ushered into a room containing books £5,000 (US$6,750) or more. I’m surprised they let me in. I wouldn’t have let me in.
I saw and held books I’ve only dreamed about. First editions of Moby Dick, A Christmas Carol, and Lord of the Rings. They had a signed George MacDonald inscribed to his friend Charles Kingsley. And apparently, it’s supposed to be Mac Donald instead of MacDonald. Each book I picked up was a first edition, a first printing of a book that would go on to change literature.
Sokol Books
You don’t just walk into this bookstore. You ring a bell so they can size you up and make sure you won’t be spilling any £4 drinks on 4 century old books. Somehow, I passed the initial test and was allowed in. The bookseller gave me a quick overview of the store. It’s a small multi-level shop with 100 - 200 books at most on each level.
On the ground floor, the books are neatly divided by age with 1700s and later on the left, and 1700s and earlier on the right. This was pure book lover’s delight. These were collector books and were well out of my price range.
It’s so interesting to look at books that old. I was struck by what has lasted and what authors focused on at the time. There is so much history in those bookstores.
South Kensington Books
This relatively small bookshop is well-curated with a few shelves dedicated to the classics. However, the classics were mostly modern with only a meager Ancient Greek collection. I did get a chuckle out of the “Museum Bums” book. They have a great collection of Arts books.
Bonus - Blackwells in Edinburgh
As you probably noticed above, I make a bee-line to the classics section of each bookstore I visit. I’m currently reading through The Immortal Books, so I’m on the lookout for different translations, versions, and ancillary books. Blackwells in Edinburgh has the most delightful classics section. It’s a portal into endless joys.
The first time I visited this store, I had a hard time finding this little nook. It’s on the second level and can easily be missed. Upon finding it, you are immediately struck by the green and red Loeb editions staring straight at you. When you enter, ancient texts are mostly organized in chronological order with a mix of mostly Penguin, Oxford, and a few other classics publishers. Here, you’ll find multiple versions of all of the ancient Mesopotamian, Greek, and Roman works.
You then continue on to the Loeb section onto a section under the window categorized by publisher. The opposite wall contains books about the classics or about the history of these ancient civilizations. It’s a compact room containing books that would take multiple lifetimes to read. It sparks the imagination in ways that few other bookshop rooms can.
