Bookshops Of London

Rating:
Summary: Essential and comprehensive for the Anglophile biblophile!
Review: I first bought an early edition of this book (or perhaps a similar book) during my first trip to London in 1983, and for many years and several trips it was my bible...I was long past due to get a new version! This comprehensive and fairly thorough guide makes me wish I were in London now to visit some of the many bookshops I've missed on trips since (including the all-Doctor Who bookshop!)

"The Bookshops of London" is exactly what it sounds like: extensive listings of independent, specialty, and chain bookstores, with cross-listings so you can find the bookstore you want within the section you're reading. The editorial stance is fairly balanced and descriptive rather than judgmental (although Jackson seems a bit obsessive over the concept of the new Piccadilly Waterstone's superstore, and one familiar favourite shop of mine is described as "rather scruffy.") Addresses, phone and fax numbers, opening hours, and websites and email (where available) compliment the concise but targeted descriptions. An appendix lists shops by area (postal code) and in alphabetical order to aid in finding the right shop.

As comprehensive as this is, I'd love to see the nearest Tube stop added to each bookshop listing in the next edition--surely that's the quickest and easiest way to describe a bookshop's location! This small fault aside, this is an essential and comprehensive guide for the book buyer, collector, and bibliophile; no book-buying trip to London is complete without it. In no time at all, your own copy will be dog-eared and highlighted.

Rating:
Summary: Essential and comprehensive for the Anglophile biblophile!
Review: I first bought an early edition of this book (or perhaps a similar book) during my first trip to London in 1983, and for many years and several trips it was my bible...I was long past due to get a new version! This comprehensive and fairly thorough guide makes me wish I were in London now to visit some of the many bookshops I've missed on trips since (including the all-Doctor Who bookshop!)

"The Bookshops of London" is exactly what it sounds like: extensive listings of independent, specialty, and chain bookstores, with cross-listings so you can find the bookstore you want within the section you're reading. The editorial stance is fairly balanced and descriptive rather than judgmental (although Jackson seems a bit obsessive over the concept of the new Piccadilly Waterstone's superstore, and one familiar favourite shop of mine is described as "rather scruffy.") Addresses, phone and fax numbers, opening hours, and websites and email (where available) compliment the concise but targeted descriptions. An appendix lists shops by area (postal code) and in alphabetical order to aid in finding the right shop.

As comprehensive as this is, I'd love to see the nearest Tube stop added to each bookshop listing in the next edition--surely that's the quickest and easiest way to describe a bookshop's location! This small fault aside, this is an essential and comprehensive guide for the book buyer, collector, and bibliophile; no book-buying trip to London is complete without it. In no time at all, your own copy will be dog-eared and highlighted.