Fine and Rare Books about Architecture, Design, Gardens, Photography & Fine Art
Established 1996
We will be open on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays throughout January and February and can open up by appointment outside these hours if you find you have a few hours to space outside these times. Please do consider a visit. There is lots to be found here that has never appeared on our online lists.
Thank you to all our customers who visited us during our extended Christmas opening hours. We will be closed from 24th December until the 2nd January when we will be open as usual.
Enjoy the holidays.
This is the time of year when we begin to get our Christmas offerings together which includ
e new books, to complement our out of print stock.
The shop is heaving with almost new books at the moment as we recently bought a library of pristine books on design art and illustration. There are books by Eric Ravilious, Paul and John Nash, Edward Bawden and their contemporaries and a table heaped with affordable books on design. There are also some very good photography books and titles on architecture in particular.
Additionally, on offer there advent calendars, Christmas cards and wrapping paper by our favourite artists.
CHRISTMAS OPENING HOURS
We will be open on Wednesdays through to Saturday from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm until December 20nd and also open 22nd and 23rd December on an “open door” basis or at other times by appointment. Please call us if you are traveling any distance to visit us. Many same day appointments available. Telephone 0780 394 1307
The shop will be closed from 24rd December 2025 until 2nd January 2026
A lot of new books related to the British art have been published in the last few months and we have selected a few for our shop. Firstly, there is Mark Hearld’s fabulous exposition on his work, with contributions by Alan Powers and others. This is Raucous Inventions. We have some signed copies available. Mark lives in York and we were luck enough to have a book signing at the shop last month. Then we have the fabulous Thames and Hudson book on Hockney produced in association with his huge Paris show. Also there is a wonderful book on Liberty Desisgn. Published to mark Liberty’s 150th anniversary and written by Kassia St Clair it is absolutely georgeous. Of course when you visit our shop there are other books on all these artists and, more widely, art and design subjects. These wait to be discovered in a large out of print art section. There are always new artist catalogues to discover that you might not have happened upon. Drop by if you are in York. We are open Wednesdays to Fridays and most other times by appointment if you call in advance.
We will be exhibiting at two events in the next few weeks: At the end of April we will be at the Oxford Book Fair, https://www.pbfa.org/fairs/oxford-premier-book-fair-april-2025 a major event run by the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association and following a few weeks later at Firsts London, https://www.firstslondon.com/the major annual event arranged by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association. We hope to see any of you who can make it to either of these events. Complimentary ticket to each event are available from their websites or from us. For the ABA Firsts London event click on the following link to register and get a ticket. HERE
We will be preparing a list of highlights for Firsts London so please contact us if you would like to receive this list in advance of the event. Our stand number is G62. We are situated on the first floor.
Our new hand list of books is available in the “Catalogue” section of our website. Have a look if you have a moment to see if there is something there you might like. The books featured are those highspots in architecture and design which we had planned to take to the Pasadena Book Fair, sadly cancelled because of the Los Angeles Fires. The books represent some of the more unusual items we have for sale.
We have a lot more books on our book shop shelves than ever appear on our website or catalogues so please get in touch if you are looking for something you think we might have but that does not pop up on our website.
Happy New Year.
We are spending some time in January planning the year ahead. Sadly, our trip to Pasadena, and the California Book Fair, has been cancelled; absolutely the right decision because of the fires in Los Angeles and Pasadena, where the book fair venue has been purposed to care for the displaced by the fires.
We will prepare a list of books we planned to exhibit in California and do contact us if you would like this. It should be out at the end of January. It will be sent out to our regular mailing list. If you are not on this, please sign up.
In the shop, we are having a small sale of new books, till the end of January, all with 30% off the cover price. This is largely to make space for planned new arrivals on our shelves.
Please call and see us. January is a quiet month for all retailers so expect an especially warm welcome and possibly a cup of tea, if you arrive mid morning or afternoon.
We have loved all the visitors who have called by during our extended Christmas opening hours and a big thank you to everyone who found books they wanted. We will re-open on Thursday 2nd January at 10.00am and from then will revert to our usual open door days which are Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. [ Most other days by appointment.]
Look out for the January Book Fair in York at the Knavesmire Suite, York Racecourse. We will be there on January 11th 2025. The fair opening hours are 10.30am to 4.30pm. Tickets from www.pbfa.org or just £1.00 on the door. It looks like it will be the largest event for the winter season ever wiht 104 booksellers having booked to come.
Wishing everyone the best of wishes for 2025.
We are open in the period up to Christmas – Mondays to Saturdays 10.00am to 5.00pm. Closed Tuesdays
The lovely Chelsea Book Fair in the Old Town Hall on the Kings Road opens on the Ist of November for two days and we will be there with some of our illustrated books, books on architecture and photography. We will be in our usual corner -Stand 61 in the small hall if you can make it.
Follow this link for a complimentary ticket
https://firsts.artsvp.com/fad082?link=ray
Back at the book shop in York we are planning a posters exhibition in the run up to Christmas so watch this space for further updates. Meanwhile we have out lots of our books on wall paper history to coincide with the York Art Gallery exhibition of William Morris Wall papers so come by if this is one of your interests. We always hope to welcome you. If you cannot make it when we are regularly open, please call us. We regularly open by appointment for our customers.