Reading and good secondhand bookshops

[slowmotion]

Try eBay. Some of the secondhand books are in mint condition.

 

[Alex321]

Hay on Wye is famous for its bookshops. There are some on Charing Cross Road in London too including Foyles

Yes, we take a trip to Hay to look round the bookshops at least 2-3 times a year. Rarely come home without a few.

 

[Time Waster]

Visited Barter Books in Alnwick a couple of weeks ago. A whole disused Railway Station converted to a second hand bookshop. I could have stayed all day, cafe, toilets, reading room. Amazing place.

I wasn't that impressed, indeed disappointed. It seemed at first to be a bigger version of how Carnforth Bookshop used to be before covid. A rabbit Warren of unusual or obscure topic books. Where rare and interesting books could be found in any topic you might possibly be interested in, indeed in topics you never knew you were interested in but having found them you suddenly were! However, I started looking for what I was interested in and found nothing. Looked at something else, nothing! I asked and first person had no idea so passed me on. Then someone who did know their way around sent me to a location with no books related to what I asked about. Ancient Greek civilisations and I got sent to somewhere that had tin hat stuff about stonehenge, space visitors and King Arthur!

That Alnwick book shop I didn't rate. A lot of copies of popular fiction if that's what you like. Today in Sedbergh a Bookshop less than a quarter of the size had a lot more interesting range of books.

 

[Time Waster]

Try eBay. Some of the secondhand books are in mint condition.

I buy from abebooks, world of books and a few other similar online Bookshop marketplaces but not ebay. Never liked ebay for some reason I can't remember now.

However, I do prefer physical shops as you kind of browse and find interesting books on subjects you've never thought of getting books in. I think it's easier to browse through shelves in a physical bookshop. It's just that there's not that many good ones around.

 

[slowmotion]

I buy from abebooks, world of books and a few other similar online Bookshop marketplaces but not ebay. Never liked ebay for some reason I can't remember now.

However, I do prefer physical shops as you kind of browse and find interesting books on subjects you've never thought of getting books in. I think it's easier to browse through shelves in a physical bookshop. It's just that there's not that many good ones around.

Yes, Abe Books are good, as well as other on-line sellers. I'm afraid that I have a complete aversion to High Street shopping.

 

[Time Waster]

These good secondhand bookshops aren't usually on high streets or if they are it's usually in places that are small and not that bad to visit. Like Sedbergh, Wigtown, etc. However I do think abebooks and others are good too. I get books related to my job or technical books like ones on material science / engineering.

 

[Reynard]

There are some on Charing Cross Road in London too including Foyles

Foyles is a shadow of its former very quirky glory - no better than any other large bookshop. They sold up the old corner building they had and moved a few doors down on the same block, buying out and refurbishing the premises of a bookshop chain that went bust.

I used to spend HOURS in Foyles on a Saturday afternoon as a schoolgirl and then undergraduate student. I got the vast majority of my uni textbooks from there as they had more reliable stock levels on the core texts than the bookshop on campus (Brunel). Their motoring / motorsport department was a veritable Mecca of current new, second hand and out of print books and magazines, and I bought a lot of stuff from there in the mid 80s to early 2000s.

Now, they're really not worth a special trip to go and browse. if you're in the area, you might as well, otherwise, there are far better places. Oh, and they only hold new stock now.

Another bookshop that's a shadow of its former self is Chaters Motoring Bookshop. They used to have a shop in Isleworth - again, a great selection of new, second hand and out of print. They also had a massive selection of magazine back issues and old race programmes. And if you needed something specific, they would be able to get it for you. The now operate out of an industrial unit somewhere in Hampshire - Hook, IIRC.

Sportspages, which used to be across the road from Foyles is also long gone. Although their stock was general sporting, concentrating mainly on football. They also used to sell vintage football shirts.

 

[Reynard]

For anything motoring, motorsport and transport-related (including cycling), I highly recommend Simon Lewis Transport Books

Simon has singlehanded (almost!) in recent years, conspired to make me run out of shelf space...

 

[Randomnerd]

Sort of it went online only a few years ago though they also attend book fairs.

Not quite the same atmosphere though.
Spelman was my second home when I was at school.
Lucius Books bought the place and is reportedly renovating.
Had my name down for a section of shelving, but heard nothing more (despite knowing their architect...)

York was once awash with good bookshops. And other places to buy real things.

Gentrified theme-park today.

 

[gbb]

Not really helpful but we have lost so much to the corporate way of life nowadays. I remember going into Linoln as a kid in the late 60s, early 70s and spending an hour in book stalls and shops, just soaking up the atmosphere and different genres, Sam in Newark some years later.
Do book stalls still exist on markets, I know there used to be one one on Peterborough Market some years ago...but in general, the bustling markets of even 20 years ago seem to have gone.

 

[Time Waster]

Foyles sounds like a bigger version of Carnforth Bookshop. This small town Bookshop used to be stuffed with shelves to the ceiling on two or three floors. Seriously I could never work out how many floors because there were so meant levels, half height stairs and rooms made of shelves of secondhand books. You could actually get lost, walk into a dead end thinking it was the way out only to have to double back via a twisting chain of linked rooms and corridors of shelves. If there was space between the shelves and ceiling there were stacked books. In every nook and cranny with spare floor space you might have a stack of books waiting for shelf space.

It was amazing! I didn't have the money to buy much but I just loved exploring it. I think the staff didn't mind me doing that. It was a real treasure trove of books, maps and other things too. Including books ticketed at p in 5 figures! Real rare books!

Then it declined a bit, not much but a little. Then covid. When it reopened I think it got sold and downstairs for new books, toys, gifts, cards etc seemed to be the direction the new owners wanted to go. I think someone else took over the secondhand books too. Then after a gap in visiting I went there and whole rooms made of shelves disappeared. No more a warren of shelves. Stock dropped probably from 6 figures to mid 5 figures. Drastic change in feel and stock levels. More popular fiction, maps and more popular books. Out went obscure or very niche books. Mining technology went, certain biological or pharmaceutical books disappeared. Geology halved with all the geological maps gone. The classics used to be a big roomlet but now two half empty shelves in a far corner. There used to be two, large shelves of Loeb classical library books dating from the 1930s to more modern editions. Natural history, guidebooks, history books, engineering books, transport books, etc. All halved in stock. They've only got a placeholder page on abebooks now too which I see as a sign of the times.

It is really sad the decline in these secondhand and antiquarian bookshops. Then you have bookshops like the big Alnwick one that seems to be doing well but they're simply not as good as those little ones like Carnforth Bookshop used to be.

 

[Time Waster]

The Sedbergh Westwood Books is pretty good imho. If you're around the area take a look. Not a truly great one like they used to be but good secondhand stock range and new books at reduced prices. I reckon they bought over runs on new books. 9.99 new books sold for 4.50 i saw. I was tempted by the new popular science books they had.

 

[Jameshow]

Penn, bucks had a lovely bookshop front and dining room and bedrooms.

Who knows where the owner lived!!

 

[Tenkaykev]

An opportunity to repost one of my favourite cartoons.

 

[a.twiddler]

There seemed to be secondhand bookshops in the most out of the way places at one time. In the early 80s I was cycling on the mountain road from Rhayader then on to a very minor road to eventually reach Tregaron. I came across a post office cum craft shop cum bookshop in or near the village of Cwmystwyth near Devil's Bridge, apparently in the middle of nowhere. There were few houses nearby so they must have relied on passing trade. I did buy some books, and pressed on to Tregaron and the mountain road to Abergwesyn where I stopped at Dolgoch YHA.

I was young and fit in those days, and even had the energy to stay up and read after all those miles and climbs. I don't recall whether I'd cycled from South Wales to Rhayader the same day (it was the sort of thing I used to do then) or if I'd stayed at Nant-y-Dernol YHA near Rhayader the night before. Anyway, finding that unexpected bookshop was one of the highlights of the trip.