Yesterday past bookshop crawler Elena of Elena Square Eyes posted a wonderful post about five brilliant bookshops she's discovered thanks to the London Bookshop Crawl. She's been taking part since the first year and her post is great - do check it out if you have a moment.
We thought we'd add to it by posting here about five bookshops who are taking part for the first time in 2018 and who we're excited to visit.
If you're completely unfamiliar with the London Bookshop Crawl and have no idea what I'm talking about, Off the Shelf Books posted a great introduction post yesterday too, and you can check out the full event line up and all the details by clicking 'bookshop crawls' link in the menu here.
I've been following The Feminist Library on twitter since their campaign to Save the Feminist Library in 2015/16. I've never visited but I'm going to make time somewhere in the weekend to get over to Southwark and pop in. They have new and used books, periodicals and zines, coffee and cake, and readings and events and it's the bookshop of the feminist library. As someone who's very interested in feminism I'm looking forward to it!
House of Illustration
I promise we have new participants who aren't they shop of a library, museum or gallery too, but I have to say that I'm probably the most excited to include these bookshops which fall slightly outside of the traditional bookshop category. To me they present (even more than other bookshops do) the chance to discover new things and areas of interest. The House of Illustration is the UK's only gallery dedicated to the art of illustration and that's something I can fully support. I've been reliably informed that it is teeny tiny but excellent and I'm excited to check out their selection of illustrated books!
You do have to purchase tickets but their exhibition John Yeoman and Quentin Blake: 50 Years of Children's Books also looks really interesting!
Judd Books
We visited Judd Books when we were in London recently (because I really wanted to visit 2017 (and 2018) participant Gay's the Word and they are on the way) and I'm really glad we did. It's a second hand bookshop and the term treasure trove could have been invented for them. Literally floor to ceiling books on every subject and you'll have to manoeuvre your way around the carefully placed tables heaving under books but I dare you to leave empty handed. I bet you can't, and I'll definitely be heading back during the bookshop crawl weekend!
All of the Oxfams
Last year the Bloomsbury branch of the Oxfam Bookshop won our hearts by making us a beautiful London Bookshop Crawl specific window:
and we're super happy to have them participating again! However for 2018 the Oxfam love has spread further with participating branches in Ealing, Greenwich and Victoria as well so you'll definitely be able to grab yourself a bargain or ten.
I'm not sure I'm physically going to be able to get to Pickled Pepper Books over the weekend but I'm going to do my best as it looks awesome. Located in Crouch End they call themselves 'a bookshop for kids (and their grown ups)', which I love. The space looks lovely and I'm really enthused by the amount of activities, groups and events they run for kids in the local community. It looks like just the kind of space I'd love there to be more of now I'm an ex-Londoner and I'll be doing my best to get myself and my kids over there!
There are so many other bookshops taking part in our 2018 event - 85 to be precise - and the big list with details of all of them along with perks and discounts being offered by many is coming very soon we promise. In the meantime you can check out our free bookshop crawl planning maps, or book tickets for our events (or the very last ticket for our guided groups) through our events page. Please do join our facebook group chat if you're coming along, or tweet us using #LondonBookshopCrawl.
London Bookshop Crawl 2018 run from Friday 9th February to Sunday 11th February across central and greater London. It is a non profit event.