The Old English Bookshop

In a day and age of Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Amazon where every book ever published is available with the touch of a button, it is not often that we happen upon a real bookshop anymore. Brattle Books has been in Boston since 1825, and there are a sprinkling in New York, but the best bookshops from a bygone era, where the sights and smells overtake you upon opening the doors, are still in London.

When you see an Edwardian building with the original wooden doors and you push open that door and a tiny bell attached to the top tinkles to let them know you've arrived, you are in one of London's treasures. The smell of paper and leather overtakes you as the floors creak beneath you. Inside there is a quiet that calms you, though salespeople confer in whispers. But if you think you will only find first edition books from a century ago, you are incorrect. For some of London's oldest bookshops have exceptionally vast books to offer you in every genre. From interior design books by Rizzoli or Assouline to the most recent New York Times Best Seller List, these bookshops have it covered. It is simply the atmosphere that is so very intoxicating and will have you lingering longer searching for more and more books.

Daunt Books in Marylebone is one of London's most beautiful bookshops as it is housed in an Edwardian building with massive windows and a beautiful second floor gallery. One feels that it is less like a bookshop and more like a museum or large estate library. Unusual for London, it is the skylights and windows providing so much natural light that make this building so interesting and this stop so enchanting.

However, my very favorite bookshop in London is Hatchard Books on Picadilly. Hatchard's has been in business since 1797 and holds three Royal Appointments. But those are not the reasons I love it. I love it because even though it feels tiny, it is a rabbit warren of five floors with a central staircase and floors that creak with books stacked in shelves and on the floors and on the stairs. It is truly a booklover's paradise. I find books at Hatchard's that I do not find anywhere else...probably not because another source doesn't have them, but most likely it is that Hatchard's knows that a book might be very unusual and not common for the main stream, but they put them front and center anyway. I just bought a fabulous book of an inside look at Eaton, England's most haughty boarding school for boys. And I bought another by a French woman exiled (as she put it) to London, filled with hysterical comparisons between French and English women. Do you think either of those would be front and center at a huge American bookshop?

If you find yourself in London and want to go back in time and lose yourself in peace and quiet, head to one of London's old bookshops and breathe in polished wood, paper, and leather. It is a heady experience for all of the senses.