Comments on: Jarvis Cocker champions the independent store

By: writersandartists

writersandartists — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:00:50 +0000

I love the secondhand and antiquarian bookshops on Cecil Court (just off Charing Cross Road). It's a beautiful little pedestrian road full of secondhand bookshops with swinging shops signs. Nigel Williams Rare Books is a particular favourite because pretty much all his stock are first editions ... I love the smell (many are real oldies), the shiny dust jackets, the yellowed pages and the marks down the side of the pages where you can tell which sections have been most thumbed over the years. It's just so exciting! Old books have always interested me. I grew up near Hay on Wye (in Powys on the Welsh/English border) which is world renowned for its secondhand bookshops - I think there are about 30 in that small town. As a young-un, I'd love the musty smell, the creaky floorboards, the glass display cabinets holding the more precious texts and reading the inscriptions and scribbles on the inside pages. When buying new books, I like to shop at Daunt Books (Marylebone High Street) and Prospero's Books in Crouch End. For me, the atmosphere and surroundings of these two bookshops complete the whole book browsing scene. I can lose hours in there, never failing to be stunned and thrilled by the breadth of books available. Warm wishes, Jo

By: Nadz

Nadz — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:03:02 +0000

In my 20s, I worked on Piccadilly. I used to love visiting Hatchards.

They didn’t do coffee, they didn’t have magazines hanging around, and they didn’t even have particularly friendly staff (more Jarvis’ vinyl type), but it was an exquisite place with an almost holy air of learning.

You’ve reminded me to go back.

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:32:36 +0000

I was sad to discover a favourite bookshop of my youth – the Friar Street Bookshop in Reading – finally closed in 2007. It had traded initially as an offshoot of the much older London Street Bookshop, and grew to specialise in the sci-fi & fantasy genre, even after Blackwell’s took over the branches in the late ’80s.
Do any other Redingensians remember it from the good old days?

By: Claire

Claire — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:09:10 +0000

I’m a big fan of Oxfam’s secondhand bookshops, both in Victoria and Marylebone, as I end up picking up all sorts of random, unexpected finds such as The Modern Letter-Writer dating from the 1960s.

Less close to home is The Reading Room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. I admire it for being a tranquil literary outpost, and possibly the only bookshop in Las Vegas, a city not known for its bookishness.

By: Cressida

Cressida — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 11:47:22 +0000

In the spirit of Independent Booksellers Week, I must recommend my local bookshop, Toppings in Ely – their website is http://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/ – with another branch in Bath.

They have frequent events, reading groups, great knowledgeable staff, and a terrific atmosphere (not to mention strong coffee).

What’s everyone’s favourite bookshops?