Friday 21 August 2009

Persephone Books

Yesterday was a beautiful day in London. I decided to stay around our neighborhood and explore close to home. I don't think we could have picked a better place to stay. The neighborhood, Holborn, has everything we need and a lot of wonderful extras. We have a park at the end of our street, tube and bus stops nearby, a nice grocery store, and the main street in our neighborhood, Lambs Conduit, is lined with terrific shops, restaurants and cafes.

One of the great shops in our neighborhood that I was looking forward to is Persephone Books. Their books have the same uniform and distinct grey cover, but the interiors of the jackets are a surprise burst of color and pattern. The interior of each book is a textile print of a fabric from the year the book was written. They specialize in publishing books of lesser-known women writers from the early to mid-twentieth century and currently have 83 titles in their catalog.

The bookstore is cozy and welcoming with vintage treasures in their merchandising.





The bookshop is also filled with fresh flowers.

If you need a quick gift, they have books pre-wrapped in bright pink paper, accompanied by a bookmark with information and the fabric design corresponding to the book's interior. I bought The Blank Wall for a friend, un-wrapped though so I could read the first few pages to see what I might think of it, but now I want to read it myself first! I read the first few pages and am already absorbed in it.

It looks like it would be a nice place to work, too.

And around the corner is a new coffee shop, The Espresso Room--a great place to go after buying a new book. I have a feeling I'll be spending more time at these two places.


4 comments:

littlebyrd said...

What a beautiful looking neighborhood full of fun places to go! That book store looks amazing :)

Heather @ Girl Gone Mom said...

Lovely neighborhood of yours and wonderful bookshop! My mother is from London and I hope to get there someday; I've only seen Heathrow airport on my way to Italy once.

Thank you for a great post!

Michelle said...

I am really enjoying exploring through your blog. Thanks for posting pictures of your neighborhood! It's truly lovely.

Sammy Girl said...

Hi, Leigh!
What a fun neighborhood! I know you will love living there for your time in London. We are staying really close to Victoria Station ... so handy for us to get out and about to do our museum seeing. Hope to get to the markets ... SOON! Have you ever been to see the Wallace Collection? Love love love it! Right on Manchester Square. It's free (requested donation) and I think they must have the best public bathrooms ... also good food at the restaurant/tea shop. We spent the WHOLE DAY there today. You mentioned the possibility of getting together while in London ... that would be a hoot! Any ideas about when or where? I'd love to see if we could fit something in. Tomorrow we hit the V&A. Unlike the tourist book that says how many hours ... we will spend the WHOLE DAY .... Mmmmmm
Well, I was just reminded that it's after eleven pm (3:00 west coast time!) so I'd better go.
Hugs and have a great day!
Betty :)
ps got mobile phone today with London number ... it is 07551687217 so give a call if you'd like. Hopefully I can figure out how the phone works well enough to answer it, lol!
B :)