Sunday 8 April 2012

Stanfords, A London Treasure

At the entrance
Apart from the joy of reading books (and writing them!) there is also the pleasure to be had from just browsing in bookshops and handling the goods. Last weekend I visited Stanfords, probably Britain's best travel bookshop. The store is in Covent Garden's Floral Street, just down the road from Paul Smith's flagship clothes shop. It is spread over three storeys in the same premises where it expanded to as a comprehensive travel bookshop in 1901. A grand open staircase connects the three floors of maps, books and all sorts of other travel related goodies. Throughout these floors gigantic oversized maps have been artfully used as floor and ceiling coverings. 

In the basement
Just to explore Stanfords will allow you to experience the thrill of travel to exotic destinations. Entering Stanfords conjures memories of a time when foreign travel equalled adventure,when the Paris Boat train could connect you to the mysteries of the East via the Orient Express, when a trunk rather than a carry-on was the baggage of choice. As well as guide books there are many shelves with books recounting traveller's tales, the experiences of intrepid travellers of past and present. Many famous explorers "Grand Tourists" have made the shop their first stop when planning a trip.  Amy Johnson, Florence Nightingale, Cecil Rhodes, Dr Livingstone and Michael Palin are just a few of their customers.

The main floor
The shop's founder, Edward Stanford, began his career as  a map seller during the Victorian era when British colonialism was turning much of the world's maps pink. He established a specialist cartography shop on Charing Cross Road in 1853. His business thrived and twenty years later he moved to larger premises just up the road.  In 1901 further expansion found them moving to their present location. With the increased mobility brought about by cheaper air travel in the 1960s there has been continuing growth in demand for their maps and guides. 

The pricing is competitive
By 2001 the shop had been enlarged and modernised. The visitor is surrounded by maps, globes, guide books and endless shelves of travel fiction. As with most modern bookshops there is also a cafe where you can sit and read what you've snaffled after your trawl through the shelves.

Choosing the right map
Whilst Stanfords promotes travel literature of all kinds including a vast collection of novels set in every country, the Company also hosts literary events and it sponsors lectures delivered by notable writers from The Royal Geographical Society. In the past, Stanfords secured specialist maps that could be difficult to obtain because some countries considered mapping to be a secret or military function. The persistent Stanfords staff sought them out from helpful foreign survey offices and would purchase a year's supply at a time and discreetly ship them back to London. Did I read somewhere that when the Falklands / Malvinas were invaded the Government headed down to Stanfords to buy up their South Atlantic stock?
If it has been mapped, Stanfords will have it

Probably not a best seller at the moment..
A part of the England section


Today's Guardian carries an article by Tim Waterstone, founder of Waterstones bookshops, in which he decries what he sees as the malign influence of Amazon on the U.K. booktrade. Amazon managed to generate sales of £3.3 BILLION last year and yet paid not a penny of Corporation Tax on the profit. 
Where do you want to go?

The fact that Amazon is dodging its public duty by contributing nothing to the UK exchequer has made me more determined to put even more of my business towards Coles, my local bookshop. Like Stanfords, Coles provides an individual and personal service. Nigel, the owner, and his helpful team order in books on request, host poetry and literary events and best of all I can browse and handle books in a friendly, pleasant, local bookshop. We all use Amazon but we should also do as much as we can to support our local bookshops.
A global business....
Browsing the stock - one of the pleasures of a real bookshop
 One of the topics for discussion at The Historical Novel's Conference in London during the last weekend of September is Exotic Locations in Historical Fiction. Among the countries to be covered are Japan and Ladakh.

 http://bit.ly/zprVlv

Have a look at the site - you might find yourself booking one of the sessions.




7 comments:

  1. Wow, Carol, thanks for the post. I've never been to Stanfords but you've sold it to me. Next time I'm in London, I'll be making a visit.

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  2. Amazingly, I didn't notice a cafe when I visited Stanford's. I spent my time on the ground floor and in the basement, totally absorbed in the books there, and didn't get rpound to the cafe. It's a good excude to go again in order to see how I came to miss it.

    You're right, it's a wonderful travel bookshop.

    Liz X

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  3. The cafe is at the Floral Street entrance. I could spend, and have spent hours in Stanfords.

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  4. And Gail, do go. It is absolutely the best bookshop in town!

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  5. Thanks for that post, Carol. I'll allow an extra two hours for a quick browse on my next trip to that part of London.

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  6. And for a coffee too. You will like all the novels. There is an amazing selection.

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  7. I had a chance to combine my two loves in life recently and had a two weeks' holiday in wonderful France, to which I had been before, and had loved so much. I took a little Renault rental car and headed off from Paris, to the Palace of Versailles, to Chartres then southward to sunny Provence, via the Auvergne region, with the Songs of the Auvergne playing repeated on the CD player.
    Magnifique, comme toujours. I saw many art galleries and followed the footsteps of artists, like poor Vincent Van Gogh. Back home all too soon, I ordered a canvas print from wahooart.com, choosing this painting by Cézanne, http://EN.WahooArt.com/A55A04/w.nsf/OPRA/BRUE-8EWNWL, to remember my trip by.


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