Books, London

Biblion is no ordinary bookshop, but a hub for all antiquarian book lovers, located within a treasure trove, Grays Antique Market. It’s tucked behind Bond street, and is a fantastic place to while away a few hours. The shop is full of character and has a warm and cosy atmosphere. One can spend all day admiring the varied and impressive collection of rare books. The staff are exceptionally knowledgable and helpful. The shop is made up of a consortium of book dealers, so the titles are constantly replenished.

What to buy: This antiquarian book shop stocks everything from Modern firsts, Children's books,illustrated books, country sports, Victorian Literature, Twentieth Century Literature, Science, Medicine, Travel, Fine and Decorative arts and so much more.

What to pay: Prices vary from £25 up to the thousands!

Borders bookstore on Oxford Street is a centrally located haven for all bibliophiles. The selection is excellent in English literature, and there is a small number of books in other languages, too.

They sell also CDs, maps and other stuff usually associated with a bookstore. There is a Starbucks café to rest your feet while browsing through the shelves.

Unlike most of the other stores in London, bookstores are open till late -- it is always fun to visit the photography section in late hours to see several men flipping through the more adult oriented photoshoot books.

Books are surprisingly expensive in the United Kingdom -- but usually there are possibilities to bundle several books together and get them cheaper. This deal excludes bestsellers and all books outside the mainstream, but gives just enough options to buy a few books for the aeroplane.

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Established 1880, they claim to be the world's largest seller of globes, maps and travel guides.
They regularly sponsor travel nights and other activities for travel-minded people.

The main entrance is on Long Acre, also a back entrance on Floral St.

Stanford's is, according to its own advertising, the world's biggest bookshop specialized on travel books. This means: travel guides, travel literature, maps, atlases, special interest books, children's travel games, photography volumes, personalised maps, aerial photographs, travel videos, flags, etc. Even an outdoor clothing shop is found in the basement! You can get literally everything here: From a backpacker's guide to Bhutan to the diary of a woman living alone in Nunavut for a year, from a guide to London's most secret secrets to a map of Pangkalanbrandan - somebody here will be able to find it for you.

We actually wanted to catch a glimpse of the shop's treasures, but came out only 45 minutes later. I could have spent a fortune there - and probably will next time.

Moreover, the shop is the only place I know which has a detailed complete (!) map of London. It is glued to the basement floor and measures roughly 5x5m. For me as a geography buff, it was a great feeling to actually walk on a map this large (and try to find out where exactly we just stood).

What to buy: everything related with travelling - books, maps, guides, clothes...

What to pay: usual book prizes

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If you love reading you will love walking down at Charing Cross Road. So many bookstores there, small and big, we usually get lost there for hours every time we visit London. First of all there are some big ones like Blackwell’s (100 Charing Cross Rd), Foyles (pic 3, address:113 Charing Cross Rd, it used to be the largest bookstore in London but we didn’t spend much time there), Borders (122 Charing Cross Rd), I knew Borders(pics 1-2) from my NY trip last year but it seems it is big here as well with well organized shelves and nice range of books. I noticed another branch of it at 203 Oxford Street so I bought most of my books there last time we passed by.

Back to Charring Cross Road don’t miss also some small bookstores that are specialized on specific subjects like music, psychology, magic, sports or whatever…

Of course all the VTers will love Stanford bookstore (pic 4) which opened its doors more than 100 years ago (1901)! It’s a bookstore dedicated to travel books, guides and maps for all over the world, I noticed guide books for every part of England of course but also all the famous destinations in the world. I liked the world map on the floor too :) (pic 5) You can find it at Long Acre, near Covent Garden tube station.

If you like to get lost in library, this is your place. Many levels of every type of books and about every subjects. In the upper store there is the music section with a huge selection of jazz and blues music and a proper cafeteria, where you are not allowed to bring books, unless bought of course. The same direction is written on the front door of the toilets, NO COMMENT. Unfortuntaly Italian music culture is not so strong as the English, so when we enter such type of shops, I always get shocked by the great variety they offer.

The Vintage Magazine Shop sells:
-Vintage Magazines: From classic magazines like Vogue and Playboy to a big stock of back issues of monthly's.
-Vintage Advertising Posters: Original designs include Railway and Travel Posters, Theatre, Circus and Magic Posters, Boxing and Sports Posters, Motor Racing, Political and Anti-War Posters. Original adverts for Drinks, Lingerie, Art Deco Fashion, Cars and Motorcycles, Cigarettes, Perfume, Cosmetics, Chocolates and Vintage Shoes.
-Movie posters, film photos, movie t-shirts, movie star autographs, celebrity photos, key-rings, film clapperboards, original movie memorabilia, cult mousepads, fridge magnets, Psycho movie stuff from the Bates Motel.
-Music T-shirts and posters.

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Oxfam second hand shops are located at a numer of locations throughout London.

I found them pretty well maintained and with a modern interior.

The prices of merchandise is a bit higher than average, but the money is well spend.

Shop locations:
-61 St. Johns Wood High St, London, NW8 7NL
-23 Drury Ln, London, Camden, WC2B
-12 Bloomsbury St, London, WC1B 3QA
-52 Goodge St, London, W1T 4LZ
-34 Strutton Ground, London, Westminster, SW1P
-202b Kensington High St, London, W8 7RG
-15 Warwick Way, London, SW1V 1QT
-240 Edgware Rd, London, W2 1DW
-29 Islington High St, London, N1 9LH
-432 Kings Rd, London, SW10 0LR
-170 Portobello Rd, London, W11 2EB
-144 Notting Hill Gate, London, W11 3QG

What to buy: Second hand stuff (but it looks like new).

Needless to say I went for the second hand records.