James Metcalf on the fictionality of the latest archaeological page-turners
Stephen Puddicombe looks at the unusual appeal of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot
Ciaran Rafferty investigates the science of book classification
Ever fancied a change from the usual Waterstones or W.H Smiths? Look no further...
ST PAULS BOOKSHOP 5 King’s Square
It’s all cards and gifts on the ground floor, but take a trip downstairs and you’ll find yourself amongst a huge collection of books on Christianity; spanning from doorstop books on apologetics and liturgy to application bible studies. As ever in a Christian bookshop a person can take their pick from a huge number of bibles. My favourite has to be the copy of the four gospels for £1.50, which was about the size of an ipod shuffle. This shop is very all-inclusive, spanning writings on Catholic traditions as well as those from the most evangelical of free churches.
OXFAM BOOKS 46 Micklegate
First things first, if you’re coming at this one walking up the hill, don’t try and take the first door you come to… it’s painted open and you really will feel ridiculous when it doesn’t open! This Oxfam is bigger than the one on Petersgate, but less clearly labelled. Once you navigate though, it does have a pretty similar selection of genres, once again late Victorian literature is in anything but short supply. The real jewel of this ship is the LP selection in the back left room - they’ve got everything from Bach to the Beatles. My best find was a double sided LP by The Proclaimers, including the track 500 miles, for only £3.99! Worth a visit.
KEN SPELMAN 70 Micklegate
Of all the bookshops I visited, this was the most through-the-rabbit-hole experience. Bear in mind, however, only come here if you’re well dressed, I was wearing combat boots and I felt moderately out of place. As a Tolstoy fan, my eye was caught immediately by a limited edition War and Peace in a glass cabinet. This copy is one of only 1750 made by the London Folio Society in 1971. I have only seen one copy of this edition before, at a book fair a few years ago where it would have cost me £99. In Ken Spelman, I would have had to part with a figure three times that price! Clearly this shop attracts pretty prestigious books and, having said all that, there are some perfectly reasonably priced treasures to be found. Particularly if you’re looking for all things art and architecture based – there are ten book cases on this topic alone. Definitely worth a visit, just don’t wear combat boots!
FOSSGATE BOOKS 36 Fossgate
Remember the Beast's library in Beauty and the Beast, and the way the bookshelves were as high as the ceiling and ran all around the walls? Well, take that library and shrink it to a size more Borrower than Beast, and you have Fossgate Books, an unassuming, secondhand bookshop crammed as if by accident into the bustling street of Fossgate. Your adventurous spirit will be rewarded with an extensive selection of fiction and non-fiction, including a wall of beautiful First Folio editions upstairs. Any cataloguing system is in the mind of the obliging proprietor, who has a cavernous memory and can tell you the exact location of anything in the blink of an eye.
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