Hiding in Central London between bustling St Martin’s Lane with its theatres and restaurants and traffic-filled Charing Cross Road, you’ll find an oasis of old London calm in Cecil Court.
This quaint, pedestrianised street is lined on both sides with independent, specialist bookshops, art galleries and antique stores is a wonderful place to recharge from London’s frenetic pace.
If you enter Cecil Court from Charing Cross Road, you find Goldsboro Books on your right.
They specialise in signed, first-edition hardbacks with their London collection spread across two rooms.
Floor-to-ceiling dark wood bookcases hold recent and vintage novels starting from £20 up to over £1,000 for a signed Agatha Christie book.
Next door is Watkins Books, London’s oldest esoteric bookshop, opened in 1897, which specialises in mysticism, occultism and spirituality.
It sells crystals, charms, and tarot cards, as well as a large selection of books covering a wide variety of topics.
It's well worth a browse, even if the genres aren't what you’d typically be interested in.
Across the road from Watkins, you’ll find Marchpane Books and Alice Through The Looking Glass.
The former is a children’s bookshop while the latter specialises in iconography of Lewis Carroll’s Alice character.
As well as first edition Carroll books, they offer rare illustrated editions, modern stationery and antique paraphernalia such as an Alice in Wonderland chess set and playing cards.
At no.7 Cecil Court, Bryars & Bryars is a map and print shop but, further into the shop, there’s a tall bookcase filled with vintage books.
The maps and prints start at a reasonable £25 and cover many subjects including old London, neighbourhood maps and floral prints.
Across the road at no.4 is Tindley and Everett—a small, one-room bookshop, packed to the ceiling with various second-hand books.
I spotted a good mix of modern books alongside older paperbacks and hardbacks.
Once you’ve exhausted the bookshops, make sure to visit the other stores in Cecil Court.
These include Panter & Hall Gallery, Mark Sullivan & Son Antiques & Decorations and Storey’s Ltd. The latter has an extensive map collection with bins outside the shop with reasonably priced maps and prints, ideal for a souvenir gift with a difference.
I hope you have a wonderful time exploring these charming, independent stores!
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