Looking for recommendations and directions to get there, if possible.

Love books of all kinds, but especially historical fiction, travel, cooking, victorian era, mystery and architecture.

Hoping to do a mix of old and new books. Not really a collector, but like to look. Known to buy on occasion.

Walk to the Charring Cross Road (Leicester Sqaure tube) and walk up and down it and round the adjoining side streets and you will see loads of books for sale.

It is high time I wrote a note to file, so here it is. I shall welcome additions and improvements.

A big Waterson s, I think the city s biggest bookshop, is on Torrington Place. Tube to Goodge Street and walk east.

The Charing Cross Road has gone down, but is still worth a slow walk to look at books, especially in bye-lanes to the east. Tube to Tottenham Court Roasd, then south.

Daily there is a second hand book market under the southern end of Waterloo Bridge, next to the National Film Theatre. Weekly on Fridays and Saturdays there is a bigger one at Greenwich: train from Cannon Street.

Oxfam has shops purely for second hand books. The site http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shops/find.html lists these, and you can click on a map
34 Strutton Ground, Victoria SW1P 2HR. 020 7 2333908. Tube St James Park
91 Marylebone High St W1U 4RB. 020 7487 3570. Tube Regents Park
68 Tranquil Vale, Blackheath SE3 0BN. 020 8 8526884. Train from Victoria or London Bridge to Blackheath
1 The Green, Ealing W5 5DA. 020 8 5672152. Tube Ealing, or train from Paddington
172 North End, Croydon CR0 1UF. 020 8 6862253. Train from Victoria or London Bridge to East Croydon
These shops tend to more recent stock than usual second hand book shops, and are a touch more expensive. In such university cities as Cambridge, Oxford, and Canterbury even the ordinary charity shops are strong on books.

Rochester, reached by train from Victoria, boasts England?s largest second hand bookshop.

Please write if I can help further.

[email protected]

Ben and UKUKUK, thanks for the great info. This will keep me busy. Let's see what else is suggested.

Degas

There are two good mystery shops- one is Murder Inc on Charing Cross Road and the other one is just off Covent Garden. I can't remember the name but it's just one street off, towards Trafalgar Square.

And, of course, Stanfords, the best travel book shop in the world, is just off Covent Garden in Long Acre

Charing Cross Road has already been noted, that's where you'll find Foyles bookshop. You can browse in there for old and new books on every topic imaginable. I collect Victoriania and I usually find one or two( or five or six) books to haul home with me.
After you leave Foyles cross over to the opposite side of Charing Cross Road and walk towards Leicester Square , there are more little book shops.
When you reach Cecil Court, turn in and you'll find a few more dealers in out-of-print books, maps, and prints.

Degas, there's also an old thread (2002) with the same title as this one that has about 20 responses. One place mentioned there (by Maribel I think) has only antique books.

For Travel book shopping I love Stanfords in St Martin's Lane - between Covent Garden and Leicester Square tube stations. As well as travel guides, fiction and diaries they also sell maps, globes, calendars, greetings cards, blank journals and magazines.

Borders just near Foyles is also good on Travel.

Foyles used to be fun just because it was so chaotic and kind of amateurish but these days it's kind of like any other large bookshop and nothing to write home about.

Charing Cross still has the best concentration of new, old and bargain basement book shops in a small area.

Kavey

For new books on all subjects, I like Hatchards, which is said to be London's oldest bookshop (it was founded in 1797). It's usually my first stop on a trip to London, and I've never managed to get out of there in less than two hours. Hatchards is on Piccadilly, very close to St. James's Church (which I think you're planning to visit anyway). They frequently have book signings at the store, so if you think you might be interested in attending a signing, check their website (http://www.hatchards.co.uk/) before you go to find out what events are scheduled for when you'll be in London.

I also like Unsworth Booksellers, at 12 Bloomsbury Street (not far from the British Museum). They carry what their website (http://www.unsworths.com/) describes as "a large stock of antiquarian, rare, secondhand, out of print, remaindered and reprinted books on classics, history, archaeology, literature and criticism, philosophy, art and architecture, performing arts, religion and social sciences." While they do have a lot of rare and antiquarian books, they also have many not-so-rare used books at affordable prices.

Note for Ben - The biggest bookshop in London (possibly Europe) is the Waterstones on Picadilly (the old Simpsons building) which took over as their flagship when it opened. The Gower street branch is their Academic Flagship.

Thanks. I have altered my note to file

Ben Haines

Wish that my fave bookstore, Wonder Books and Video (two locations: Hagerstown, and Frederick, Maryland), were here in the UK. I loved those stores....used books of every pedigree and subject, stacked and stored and piled every which way. What beautiful chaos!

I also loved their old sheet music and vintage and antique prints, lithographs, and individual pages which were salvaged from old books.

Both my husband and I used to stay in there for hours, and we never got bored. I like new books, but there's something about the musty 'oldness' of some books that just really floats my boat!

Degas, if you decide to go to the Wallace Collection, walk over about one block to the east and check out Daunt's on Marylebone High Street. I made it there about 10 minutes before closing time one night. It's a small bookshop, but looked very inviting. Wish I could've lingered there for a couple of hours.

I think Any Amount of Books is my favorite of Charing Cross Road's secondhand bookshops -- a thoughful and sometimes quirky selection and reasonable prices. Lots of Victorian odds and ends, too, especially in the biography section.

The block bounded by Great Russell Street and Little Russell Street, just southeast of the entrance to the British Museum, has a number of specialist secondhand bookshops, including Jarndyce Rare Books, a Mecca for collectors of Victorian first editions -- worth a visit if only to fondle the stock admiringly Also, this past April the London Review Bookshop opened around the corner on Bury Street, an interesting experiment and certainly worth dropping into for a browse.

Quinto has opened a pretty good shop across from the Museum, in addition to their more crowded and cluttered one on CH Road. (Musty but fun old Penguins and Pelicans in the basement.) Unsworth is especially good for remainders of non-fiction books, but, like a surprising number of UK shops, they actually buy a lot of their books wholesale from Powell's here in the States, so be sure that the book you want is one you can't get cheaper here. (One often sees the boxes stacked in odd corners, with return addresses to Oregon!) Personally, I always enjoy keeping a lookout for books by small regional UK publishers, especially on local British history, biography, and travel -- in other words, books you'd almost never find outside the UK.

-- Cuttle

Thanks again for all the informative feedback. I intend to visit several places and its great to have so many choices in different areas of London.

For a good selection of Cookbooks..
Books for Cooks ..4 Blenheim Crescent. Notting Hill gate tube.. They also have a GREAT cafe

I think all of my favorite bookshops have been mentioned, so I'll recommend something a little different.

Not a book shop, but since so many of us who enjoy reading and travel also seem to love maps, you might like The Map House. If you just can't get "the little wife" out of Harrod's you could let her shop and run over to 54 Beauchamp Place, nearby.

They have maps of almost anyplace you can think of, in all ages and price ranges. Maybe you'll find something to bring home and frame!

Degas:
One of my all time favorite bookstores in the world....
DAUNT BOOKS FOR TRAVELLERS
83 Marylebone High Street
Tel: 0171 224 2295
Mon-Sat 9am-7pm
Tube: Baker Street
""The really original feature of the place is that the books are arranged by country, and include guides, maps, travel accounts, history, art, craft ..& literature""

BEN
Two books that may be of interest to you:
Book Lovers' London
ISBN 0-9522914-4-4
The Bookshops of London
ISBN 1-84018-237-7

Oooooooooh Bailey - you made my day - I'm currently working for a client and their offices are along Baker Street. I'll be sure to spend a few hours in that bookstore when I can.

THANK YOU!

For Travel guides,and Maps I second Stanfords Book Shop.However it is not on St Martins Lane as previously posted.It's actually located here
Stanford's (tel 020-7240 3611)
12-14 Long Acre
London, WC2E 9LP