Secondhand Bookshops in London

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I used to be a regular patron of the Book Despository on Hoxton Street, which recently got closed down to become a trainer shop/kebab house/operation wiring money to the family back home in Ghana. The one in Highgate is too too far away; the one in Berrylands nr Kingston is great but miles miles away. The two on Stoke Newington Church Street are apallingly overpriced and claustrophobic, staffed and hung around by a few who give the air of resenting your custom. Where is well stocked and full of books and isn't on the internet?

― matthew james (matthew james), Sunday, 30 July 2006 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

the shop for romania on stoke newington church street is a charity shop rather than a dedicated bookshop and i haven't been in for a while, but every time i have been in i've found loads of books i really wanted - they have/had a guy there who knew his shit and organised all the books properly. i guess whether it's still good depends on whether he or someone like him is still there.

this may be a bit too far if highgate is, but the bookmongers on coldharbour lane is wicked too.

― emsk ( emsk), Sunday, 30 July 2006 20:34 (nineteen years ago)

actually charity shops in general, though not all of them. the ones in town are mostly crappy for books but the ones around kentish town and camden are good.

― emsk ( emsk), Sunday, 30 July 2006 20:59 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I've picked up some good stuff from Oxfam on Kentish Town Road.

― chap who would dare to start Raaatpackin (chap), Sunday, 30 July 2006 21:40 (nineteen years ago)

Oxfam in Crouch End is full of good stuff. Does that book stall outside the NFT still exist? Also, Charing Cross Road still has a few not too bad places. Oh yeah, the Book & Comic Exchange in Notting Hill (Pembroke Road I think) is worth a gander, overpriced but they mark down every fortnight or so a la the associated record shops.

― Matt #2 (Matt #2), Sunday, 30 July 2006 21:44 (nineteen years ago)

now i come to think about it there is an oxfam somewhere north of oxford st that had good books the one time i went there.

Does that book stall outside the NFT still exist?

aargh yes it does i am not allowed anywhere near it

― emsk ( emsk), Sunday, 30 July 2006 22:38 (nineteen years ago)

Mortimer Street?

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Monday, 31 July 2006 07:20 (nineteen years ago)

The one opposite the British Museum (Quarto? Folio?) is clearing everything out at half price, but stock is dwindling.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Monday, 31 July 2006 07:21 (nineteen years ago)

I really like the one behind Great Ornmond St hospital.

― Ed (dali), Monday, 31 July 2006 07:23 (nineteen years ago)

Judd Books on Marchmont St. is good for browsing and buying books you didn't know you wanted--not so much for finding something you're specifically searching for.

― g00blar (gooblar), Monday, 31 July 2006 08:00 (nineteen years ago)

There is Griffiths & Partners actually on Gt Ormond St, almost opposite the hospital entrance. It is the approximate size of a toilet cubicle, with a couple of tables outside, but I rarely pass it without buying something. Pbks very reasonably priced & the owner always slips in one of his huge personal bookmarks, printed on heavy card, which must be v pricey to produce. I have no idea how he makes a living from this shop.

See also the Marchmont Bookshop (not on Marchmont St, but Burton St, just round the corner). It's often closed, it doesn't have a sign, most of the front is covered by a wisteria, the stock is largely poetry. Every time I go I expect it to have gone out of business: it's very shabby, but manages to survive. How?

― bham (bham), Monday, 31 July 2006 08:01 (nineteen years ago)

I think you're being a bit harsh on Ocean Books in Stoke Newington, thread starter. The shop opposite I agree is unfriendly. The guy running it enjoys kissing his girlfriend while you're trying to browse. He also talks in that slow way that suggests years of dope schooling. Neiather shop seem overpriced for me. I've picked up several first editions for reasonable prices.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 31 July 2006 08:52 (nineteen years ago)

Griffiths & Partners

Is that its name? I've bought loads of books there when I lived around the corner from it and never knew it had a name. It's lovely, I was always scoring bargains there.

Streatham has a new FANTASTICHE second hand charity bookshop, I have to ration my visits or I'd be overloaded.

― Silver Machine Manor (kate), Monday, 31 July 2006 09:31 (nineteen years ago)

Oxfam in Crouch End is full of good stuff.

otm

what's 'the one in highgate'?

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 31 July 2006 09:33 (nineteen years ago)

Charing Cross Road is still your best best in London, especially for first editions, signed copies etc. I love the one with the steps down to a mazey basement full of dank paperbacks. Cecil Court is great for specialist books (childrens, 'counterculture', foreign language etc).

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 31 July 2006 09:37 (nineteen years ago)

There is a new (I Think) Oxfam Books on Bloomsbury Street (bottom end of Gower Street). I didn't have time for a thorough rummage, but it looks pretty well stocked, if a little expensive. By which I mean secondhand prices rather than chairty shop prices, which is fair enough, I suppose. They even have a little popular music section. I got a Bowie biography for £2. Sorted, result, etc.

I think it used to be a different bookshop.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Monday, 31 July 2006 11:42 (nineteen years ago)

yeah it was unsworths.

i like the communist bookshop, over the street.

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 31 July 2006 11:52 (nineteen years ago)

BookMarx, I think it's called.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Monday, 31 July 2006 11:57 (nineteen years ago)

five months pass...

I was poking about Stoke Newington on Saturday and both bookshops on Church Street were fine and not stuffy at all. Ocean maybe gets the upper hand because of its secondhand vinyl section in the back.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 15 January 2007 10:38 (nineteen years ago)

one of those shops is really quite friendly. the other one isnt unfriendly either

― Storefront Church (688), Monday, 15 January 2007 11:36 (nineteen years ago)

Is Skoob bookshop still in the ugly shopping centre near Russell St? That's quite good, as far as I recall. Also the Oxfam bookshop on Marylebone High street

― Mark Co (Markco), Monday, 15 January 2007 11:57 (nineteen years ago)

in the brunswick, no, apparently gone now

― Storefront Church (688), Monday, 15 January 2007 11:58 (nineteen years ago)

co-sign on the marylebone oxfam, bit pricey tho.

haha ugly shopping centre. people be trying to kill for saying that.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 15 January 2007 12:01 (nineteen years ago)

I still think the secondhand bookshop on Coldharbour Lane is my favourite.

The best Oxfam for books and music is up at Ealing Broadway (they get one shop each).

But the local British Heart Foundation books/music shop on Streatham High Road is v. v. good.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 15 January 2007 12:07 (nineteen years ago)

I haven't been to Brunswick lately but understand it is all tarted up now

― Mark Co (Markco), Monday, 15 January 2007 12:48 (nineteen years ago)

six years pass...

Is there anywhere particularly good to sell books you don't need? Is it worth it if it's just new copies of fairly commonplace stuff (Penguin Classics, etc) rather than antiquarian books? I usually ship them off to charity shops but somewhere that does part-ex might be an idea.

― хуто-хуторянка (ShariVari), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 11:23 (thirteen years ago)

I've sold my books to Skoob in Bloomsbury last few years. I had a lot of books to sell, like a few hundred, so they came round for that. But I remember the owner saying that he's always after paperbacks of student texts etc.

― glumdalclitch, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 11:32 (thirteen years ago)

Awesome. Thanks.

― хуто-хуторянка (ShariVari), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 12:03 (thirteen years ago)

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