Shapero Rare Books

Shapero, with its blue-painted shelves heaving with leather-bound volumes, is a quiet literary sanctuary. They’re especially good on illustrated books – from the fifteenth to twentieth centuries, and they have a gallery too, Shapero Modern, holding exhibitions of their modern and contemporary prints.

Maggs Bros. Ltd

Maggs has been a Mayfair institution for years (though their main address is in fact in Bloomsbury). They have a cosy little shop on Curzon Street, having moved a couple of years ago from Berkeley Square, full of rare and wonderful gems. Positively Dickensian. And you might stumble across a rare Dickens find while you’re there…

Peter Harrington

The forest green shop on the Fulham Road is four storeys high and has more than 20,000 books and 6,000 prints and old maps. The Peter Harrington empire also includes the Chelsea Bindery, for traditional bookbinding and the more glitzy shop on Dover Street. It’s the place to go for the rarest of the rare – they once sold a Shakespeare first folio and Virginia Woolf’s pocket diaries.

Cecil Court

This little pedestrian thoroughfare linking Charing Cross Road and St Martin’s Lane is a booklover’s heaven. Behind the Victorian shopfronts are all manner of rare and second-hand booksellers. You’ll find maps and prints and posters, and all manner of ephemera – each shop houses a literary treasure trove.

Robert Frew Ltd

Passers-by are always drawn into this little shop opposite the V&A by the shelves outside, heaving with second-hand books. Behind the big glass shopfront are all manner of antiquarian books, maps, atlases and prints. Offers tranquil respite from the Knightsbridge hustle and bustle.