Member Kot… Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 This topic was imported from the Typophile platform I'm going to London next weekend and i would like to check out some bookshops while i'm there, any tips? I'm interested in books on typography and design, especially out-of-print classics. Tips on great books to pick up are also appreciated! Link to comment
Member sem… Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Go to Charing Cross Road. You'll find a few book shops with old titles. I bought "Printing Types", Updike, 2nd edition. Happy! Tried to find "Essay on Typography", but with no success, only the facsimile. Good fishing! Link to comment
Member ult… Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 It would be worth checking out Collinge & Clark in Bloomsbury. They have an excellent selection of old specimens and type books. They're usually closed on weekends, but their schedule is a bit erratic, so you never know. And it's a shame you won't be in town the following weekend, when the Ephemera Society has one of their big fairs. Those are an absolute treasure trove! Link to comment
Member Kot… Posted January 19, 2009 Author Share Posted January 19, 2009 Superb, thanks a lot! i'll check those out. I'm staying until tuesday, so i'll have time to look into Collinge and Clarke too. I read somewhere that both Foyles and Maggs have typography books, anyone know anything about them? How about Zwemmers? Foyles is pretty famous i gather, but i'm totally blank when it comes to London shops. Harrods who? Link to comment
Member Jus… Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Foyles are good for current publications and often have recently out-of-print titles but won't have anything especially rare. They are a very big store with well-stocked departments on most subjects, and a very nice neon sign which I think dates from the 1930s. Maggs are a specialist antiquarian dealer. Sadly I don't think Zwemmers have any stores left in London. Link to comment
Member Joh… Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 I've been to Maggs a couple of times but have not found much type related material. Link to comment
Member tim… Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 There is a secondhand book market outside the British Film Institute under Waterloo Bridge on the South Bank at the weekends, not particularly type based unfortunately. Tim Link to comment
Member Kot… Posted January 20, 2009 Author Share Posted January 20, 2009 Thanks again everybody, i think i've got plenty to go on here. I'm definitely checking out Collinge and Clarke, i looked it up on Wikipedia and found that it's the store from “Black Books” – which my girlfriend recently bought the entire series of on dvd. Now she's got a reason to come with me to look at musty old type books! Yay! Link to comment
Member Joh… Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 Oh yes, that is the exterior of Collinge & Clarke used in the Black Books comedy series. The interior scenes, though, were shot in a studio. The real Collinge & Clarke interior is very small and cramped. But consider yourself fortunate that the booksellers have quit smoking: one used to need a gas mask when visiting the shop. Link to comment
Member keg… Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 Collinge & Clarke has an incredible selection of private press books and books on printing & type: The best I have seen anywhere outside of a library. Cecil Court is a small street with quite a few specialist antiquarian books shops Link to comment
Member Joh… Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 I watched a bit of Black Books, and found it interesting to see how parts of the interior of the fictional shop were modelled on Collinge & Clarke but made much larger. Just around the corner from C&C on Marchmont street is Judd Books, which is sometimes a good source for remaindered books on type. Link to comment
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