Nooks, Corners & Musty Books

I'm not the kind of girl who is want to buy a new, shiny book whose pages have not yet been turned. I have nothing against the likes of big chain bookshops - I used to mill about in the  Waterstones on Piccadilly on cold, dark and rainy London days and could often be found wandering around the Foyle's on Tottenham Court Road. But the appeal of buying books from one of these stores was very little. If given the choice I guess, I would rather walk into something like Black Books and be harassed by the obscenities of a drunken, cigarette toting Bernard (actually I would love that). To me there is nothing better than stumbling around the dark corners of a musty, old, local bookshop where the books are in no particular order and are bursting from the overladen shelves. These wondrous little shoppes are like sanctuaries with their always friendly keepers, quietness and that smell of wood, paper, and smoke. I envy the bookshop owner. 

I'm always on the lookout for good bookshops but this following list is my top five:

1. The Minster Gate Bookshop

This is my favourite of favourite bookshops which I found while I was a scumbag student in York. Tucked away on a cobbled street with the background of York Minster's facade you could easily miss it in it's little corner. It seems endless with all its corridors and stairs and not a bare space of wall has been left uncovered by a bookshelf. It was here that I found a signed copy of Keats' Collected Works (which I begrudgingly gave as a present, grumble grumble). The number of 1st editions I pawed over and coveted knowing that they would never be mine while I was wearing my holey, mud-covered converses is endless. I would console myself with a dirty pint and a rollie and dream of what my bookshelf would look like when I was rich and famous. I would have a bookshelf with a ladder, I would think. 

2. Jonkers Rare Books 

If you're just a kid who looks like a grown-up than you'll love this place. There's a whole wall of fairytales - each beautifully bound, illustrated and timeless. I've never seen so many books in one place illustrated by Arthur Rackham, so many gilded covers and rare finds. A good friend of mine, also a massive geek, and I used to go in and spend hours ooohing and ahhing over the pages of these pretty little things and trying desperately to gather anything in our student budgets. I think the best thing we found there was a very early, Illustrated edition of Milton's Paradise Lost.

3. Any Amount of Books 

Ah-ha! Charing Cross Road: the booklover's paradise, the street of booksellers, the paved pavements of binding, parchment, and dustjackets! One of my pastimes in London was to get a baozi bun from Chinatown and nibble it on my way to the endless line of bookshops on Charing X Rd. I almost choked on my minced pork savoury delight as I rounded the corner to see that one of my favourite sellers had obviously been forced out and had been replaced by (puritans, cross yourselves) a disgusting Patisserie Valerie with all it's cheap cream tarts, sickening pink and brown signage, and tasteless patrons. Eugh. I thought I'd taken a wrong turn, I hoped I had but alas I was there. I'd heard that these small sellers were in trouble but this was very unexpected. It did give me more reason to keep supporting it's neighbour Any Amount of Books though. They always have a few tables outside selling books for a quid or two and I would always bump into someone while perusing the offerings on the bookshelf in the doorway. Not an ideal place for a bookshelf but you can forget about personal space in this shop. Corners, high shelves, a stacked basement, a stairwell lined with shelves....endless. They are keeping the spirit of Charing Cross Road alive.
 
4. Aldeburgh Bookshop 

Ok, so this one isn't exactly a second-hand bookshop but it is truly the best independent bookshop EVER. Unsuspectingly it sits on the main street of this (rather posh) seaside town quietly humming away at it's business then boom - the town and the shop comes alive twice a year. Firstly with its annual literary festival with a line-up of big names and aficionados and then secondly for the poetry festival again with the same enticing speakers and guests. A trip to Aldeburgh was never complete without a walk on the shingles, fish and chips, and a mosey into this bookshop. 

5. Syber's Books

After moving from London to Melbourne I was determined to find a bookshop to patronise. After a night out with a friend and losing my voice I stumbled into  what seemed to be a smallish shop and was surprised when I found that it may not be wide but it was certainly long AND it had ladders!! Yep, speechless I was, quite literally. As I surveyed deeper I found I was not alone and that a fat, ginger cat was grooming itself on a large chair. Although the cat did try biting me I did like that there was a cat. I spent about an hour in here picking up and putting down and gathering everything I wanted. When I got to the counter I tried in vain to communicate and was taken pity on, given remedies of honey and hot tea and a discount! Definitely going back there. 

So happy readers, I'll leave with these thoughts - 

Support your local, independent bookstores, don't pet strange cats and buy more books!

- Pea