About The Guide

Hello! We are Sonja and Ivan. And this is our Bookstore Guide - an amateur guide to book shopping throughout Europe. We hope this Guide will help you find the book(stores) you are looking for. Unfortunately, the bookstores are no longer uploaded and may be out of date

Hatchard's, London

Hatchards London Logo
Where? London, UK



Recommended by
Sean Dodson
The courtesy of the Guardian Unlimited


Sean said: "Although the bookshop of Cambridge University is technically the oldest bookshop in Britain, Hatchards of Piccadilly, which has been trading since 1797, is definitely the most aristocratic. Not only does it boast three royal warrants, meaning it supplies books to Her Majesty, it has counted Disraeli, Wilde and Byron among its regulars. Today it retains the spirit of days past, with an interior described by one follower as "reminiscent of being inside a rambling old house, with six floors of small rooms all linked together curling around a central staircase."

Located opposite the Royal Academy, Hatchard's seems like a a bibliophiles dream. It's easy to get lost in this shop for hours, strolling from section to section from popular fiction via the computer manuals to travel guides and photography books. There is a help desk on each floor, with employees always there at your hand, if you need any, because most of the sections are rather east to navigate through on your own.

Hatchard's is certainly the oldest bookstore having first opened to the public in 1797 by John Hatchard on one of then most fashionable streets in London. Spreading over five floors and with over 100,000 titles in stock, the shop is a heady mix of genuine character and first-class personal service. A favourite with both writers and readers alike, Hatchards not only holds regular book signings but can obtain any British book currently in print. Travel, fiction, history and biography genres are all well represented.

Hatchards London bookstoreHatchard's
Address:
187 Piccadilly
London W1J 9LE







Website:
http://www.hatchards.co.uk/

Phone and Email:
020 7439 9921
books@hatchards.co.uk

Working Hours:
Mon-Sat 9.30-19
Sun 12-18


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Anthony Frost, Bucharest

Anthony Frost bookstore Bucharest logo


Where? Bucharest, Romania









 

{CLOSED} THIS BOOKSHOP IS NO LONGER OPERATING!!! {CLOSED}

Recommended by
Kelly Amabile





"Since opening in December, the bookshop has become popular among students, academics and expats, especially for its fair pricing system – which sees English language books on sale for the same cost as in the west. Set up by three friends with a fascination for the English language, Nicolae Ion, Dan Nicolaescu and Vlad Niculescu, the shop is located in an arcade opposite the Kretzulescu Church on Calea Victoriei, around the corner from the Orange Concept Store.
One of the store’s unique selling points is helpful staff who know what they are talking about. For browsers, this makes the experience of speaking to shop assistants a pleasure rather than an act of public humiliation."

The Anthony Frost Bookshop, the first all-English bookshop in Bucharest which opened in December 2007, stocks titles from various domains such as art, architecture, children's literature, comics, fantasy, fiction, biographies, humanities, science, sport and travel. The books come from known publishing houses such as Penguin, Faber & Faber, Random House, MacMillan and publishing wings of universities such as Cambridge, Yale and Harvard. All books are sold at their regular prices.

Anthony Frost bookstore bucharestAnthony Frost English Bookshop
Address:
45 Calea Victoriei
Bucharest





Website:
http://www.librariaengleza.ro

Phone and Email:vlad@librariaengleza.ro
+40 21 311 51 38

CLOSED
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La Mar de Letras, Madrid

La Mar de Letras logo

Where?
Madrid, Spain



Recommended by
Miguel Marcos

Miguel said: "La Mar de Letras is a small but nice children's bookstore."

The name of this bookstore can be loosely translated as "The Sea of Letters" and to stick with this metaphor, this bookstore is definitely a ship which will ensure a safe and entertaining journey for all the kids on board.

The offer of this bookstore is aimed primarily at kids and juveniles, but parents will also find some interesting reading material. The stock holds more than 15 thousand books for kids and juveniles and over 3 thousand books about parenting. You can find a wide selection of books ordered into several categories with the age target group ranging from just several months to teenagers. The offer of books for adults mainly consists of books which focus on pregnancy, baby care and parenting in general, but you can also find titles about nutrition, healthy lifestyle or ecology, education, history of children's literature, psychology. Although the majority of the books is available in Spanish, you can also find titles in English and we decided to include this bookstore in our guide as a noteworthy place especially for expat families with kids in Madrid.

The activities of La Mar de Letras go well beyond the scope of a usual bookstore. This bookstore is a place where all sorts of events connected with kids literature and mainly with promoting reading among children take place. Weekly readings of books for kids (each time a different age group) are on the program each Saturday, different workshops or storytelling meetings are also frequent. La Mar de Letras also has a very nice, informative and obviously frequently updated website, which proves their dedication to the their work. Our only reproach is that the contents of the website are only available in Spanish.

Situated in the center of Madrid between la Plaza Mayor and la Plaza de Oriente. In 2007 this bookstore was awarded the prize "Premio Librero Cultural", which also shows that their efforts are being noticed.
This bookstore is worth a visit thanks to its unique interior as well, since it is adjusted to the interests and needs of the majority of its visitors - that is why toys are a part of the decoration.

La Mar de Letras bookstore madridLa Mar de Letras
Address:
Santiago 18
28013
Madrid







Website:
http://www.lamardeletras.com/

Phone and Email:
+34 91 541 7109
lamardeletras@gmail.com

Working Hours:
Mon-Fri 10:30-14 and 17 -20:30
Sat 10:30-14:30

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Booksellers, Madrid

Booksellers bookstore Madrid logo

Where? Madrid, Spain




Recommended by Miguel Marcos

Visited: August 2008
(Read more on Booksellers in our Report from Madrid)

Miguel said: "Booksellers is a medium sized bookstore. It virtually has all English books."

Located near the Metro Iglesia, Booksellers offers a wide range of books and publications in the English language. The bookstore itself has two parts: one where teaching materials and various other teaching aids can be found (from books on linguistics and methodology via dictionaries and audio books to books on business and medicine) and the other where fiction books (general fiction, SF, crime, romance, historical novels, etc) and non-fiction books reside (biographies, literary criticism, current affairs, history). Judging by what we have seen, the section dedicated to English language teaching materials is the greatest asset of this bookstore, and it also occupies the biggest space. The bookstore also has a section dedicated to Spanish literature and history as well as a section with newspapers and magazines imported from the United States and the UK.

Booksellers was founded over some 20 years ago when four enthusiasts decided to put together their own bookstore, after having had bad experience with former employers. The business was not blooming the first years upon the opening, still, the bookstore persisted and the business grew. The Booksellers bookshop specializes solely in English-language books, from the latest U.K. and U.S. novels to travel, history and teaching materials. They stock plenty of children's literature and English-language videos and DVDs.

Booksellers Madrid bookstoreBooksellers
Address:
Fernández de la Hoz 40
28003 Madrid







Website:
www.booksellers.es

Phone and Email:
91 442 79 59
ventas@booksellers.es
administracion@booksellers.es

Working Hours:
Mon-Fri 9:30-14 and 17-20
Sat 10-14

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A Report from Budapest

The long awaited report from Budapest, Hungary is finally here. In the past few days we've been adding the recently visited bookstores in Budapest, but we figure all of them deserve another mention as a part of this report - sort of a way to circle Budapest as a bookstore rich city which deserves a special mention in our Guide.

We should thus start chronologically, with Red Bus Bookstore which we've found a long time (ok, prehaps not AS long) before Bookstore Guide had been conceived. It all happened somewhere in June last year while we were wandering about Budapest. Unfortunately, the bookstore was closed at the time of our discovery (either it was Sunday or past 6pm, or perhaps both) but we made sure we came back a couple of months later and we were left breathless both by the prices and the selection. Red Bus Bookstore is one of our favorites to this very day since it will be very hard to beat the impression it had left on us. Not once had we left without a book. Or two. Although it's usually more than 4.

After Bookstore Guide had been born, we stumbled upon some websites which listed Treehugger Dan's bookstore and it was only after we recieved a recommendation by one of its customers that it got a place among all of the bookstores in the Guide. Treehugger Dan's has two locations (due to the first, original one being overpopulated with books - Dan, the owner himself said that even his toilet is to this very day cramped with books) and we visited them both. The old one (the one in Csengery utca) is by far better stocked with books, with the prices usually ranging from 900HUF to a few hundreds HUF more, with an excellent selection of fiction and non-fiction both. Be sure to check out the new arrivals because it was there that we found the most interesting books (the 'new arrivals' section is something every bookstore should have, especially if you are a regular customer since you shouldn't go through all the shelves over and over again). We had a pleasant chat with Dan about bookstores in Budapest while we were book browsing.

Our next stop came as a huge surprise because at the time we thought we had already exhausted all the second-hand, afordable bookstores. Although located a bit far from the center, Bookstation definitely deserves the attention from all the book lovers with the shelves from floor to ceiling (literally), from English languge to French, German and even Spanish. While trying to balance ourselves on the high ladders while trying to reach the books, we found some real gems among all of them (perhaps it is also important to mention that one should look behind the books on the shelves because there is a whole another row of books behind the visible ones). We also found an interview made with Marton Gulyas, the owner of Bookstation. "Choosing a bookstore is a little like choosing a dentist - you want to create a sort of relationship, where you feel comfortable, especially if for whatever reason you spend a significant portion of your income on books." (taken from Budapest Funzine)
We certainly agree with Mr. Gulyas and we hope that many people would choose Bookstation for their "dentist" as they most likely won't get disappointed.

Budapest, being a large city as it is, hides more bookstores in its numerous streets. Another one of them is D2K (certainly an unusual name for a bookstore although we haven't tried to guess the meaning behind it). This specialized bookstore is just around the corner from Treehugger Dan's Lounge and it stocks books on design, art and architecture - something certainly useful for students of arts and art lovers. The interior of the bookstore is very interesting, since it is spacious and "artsy" itself and the book selection is carefully chosen and unique. After this bookstore, we headed on north to Pendragon Books (a bookstore which stocks only new books). Pendragon (which got a name after a legend - we did some research on this one) has a wide assortment of books out of which we were most impressed by the children's books section (something that most bookstores do not pay a special attention to). We also went to Bestsellers, a bookstore just a 5 minute walk from the very center of Budapest. This bookstore also stocks new books and it is especially useful if you're looking for specialized books, for example on literary criticism or politology. If you are an expat living in Hungary, you also won't be disappointed by their stock of foreign newspapers and magazines - just to catch up with the current trends of your native country.

And thus our three day Budapest bookstore hunt had ended (thanks to the Hungarian railway strike - originally we planned a two day stay but were held in the city a bit longer) with 13 books in our bags and our shelves. We will add the titles and prices of some of the books into the Comments section of the respective bookstore. Perhaps it would be important to mention another two bookstores we visited but haven't added to our guide - one of them being the bookstore chain Libri and the other bookstore being Alexandra. Both of them stock mostly books in Hungarian but some English language books can be found as well. Alexandra, just across the Nyugati trainstation, is particularly interesting since it spreads on four floors and is open until midnight.

To sum it all up, the search for English books in Budapest does require a certain amount of energy, but its results are most rewarding. Several English bookstores, each of them unique and special in its own way, wide selection and in some cases more than friendly prices, all these aspects make Budapest almost impossible to leave (in our case literally) and will surely draw us back soon.

_ _
Check out our Reports from other European cities.

Hugendubel Bookshop, Munich

hugendubel logo
Where? Munich, Germany


[UPDATE: HUGENDUBEL BOOKSHP IS CLOSED AS OF JUNE 2012]
HOWEVER, SOME OTHER BRANCHES OF HUGENDUBEL STILL OPERATE
CHECK OUT THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE FOR MORE INFO

Recommended by
: Emily Rash

Emily said: "English-language bookshop on Salvatorstrasse. This shop is the most comprehensive English book store in Munich. It has new releases and an interesting mix of both British and American books. There is also a branch of this shop in Frankfurt."

Hugendubel is a chain bookstore operating all over Germany. However, this specific Hugendubel bookstore at Salvatorplatz in Munich is their only location selling exclusively English books (there's another bookstore in Frankfurt with a considerable English section, but that one offers books in German as well). Its great advantage is the favorable location in the very center of the city, between the Marienplatz and Odeonsplatz. Hugendubel bookshop is definitely a great source of English literature in Munich, but it does have some bugs as well.

The offer of the bookstore is quite wide, ranging from fiction (mostly new releases and also classics), biographies, history or politics, to traveling, business, books for kids and audiobooks. Some visitors still find the offer of the bookstore to be limited and too “chain-store-like”. The other reproach made against Hugendubel is linked to the prices of the books. However, this is mostly due to the fact that books have a fixed price in Germany and you can't expect any radical deviations unless you decide to visit a second hand English bookstore.

The Hugendubel family has a long tradition in the bookstore business, consisting of several generations and more than one full century. The bookstore at Salvatorplatz was actually the first one in the line, acquired in 1893 (there already was a bookstore at this address when the Hugendubel family bought it). The last crucial change in the history of this store came in September 2004, when it was reopened as an “English language only” branch.

hugendubel bookstore munichHugendubel Bookshop
Address:

Salvatorplatz 2
80333 Munich







Website:
http://www.hugendubel.de/books_in_english/Liste.aspx

Phone:
01801/484 484

Working Hours:
Mon-Sat 10-20

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Robinson Crusoe 389, Istanbul

Robinson Crusoe bookstore Istanbul logo


Where?
Istanbul, Turkey





Recommended by
Jan Baker

Jan said: "Robinson Crusoe stocks a good range of English language titles alongside its Turkish stock. It's a good place for fiction, philosophy, biography and art and design. It's also really easy to find: look for the stylish wood and glass facade, on the left as you are walking down the Istiklal from Taksim Square (a leisurely twenty-minute walk from Taksim Square, past Galatasaray High School), or on the right if you are walking up the Istiklal from Tunel and Asmalimescit."

Robinson Crusoe has been selling English-language books for almost fiftteen years and has always had an up-to-date and relevant collection of fiction and non-fiction items. It has one of the best selections of Turkish writing and Turkish literature translated into English. The shop's interior resembles a literary bricolage set in an old-world library, with dozens and dozens of dark-wood shelves climbing from the very ground along the walls all the way up to the ceiling, and assiduous shop assistants balancing on ladders trying to reach the dusty tomes at the top. When not performing acrobatic feats, the staff there are more than helpful and will order any books that are not in stock.

Existing since 1994, Robinson Crusoe Kitabevi (bookshop) stocks a decent selection of everything from fiction and philosophy to current affairs and history reads, as well as a rather good range of travel books and magazines and newspapers in English and French. The bookstore also stocks books in Turkish.

Robinson Crusoe bookstore IstanbulRobinson Crusoe Kitabevi
Address:
Istiklal Caddesi 389
Beyoglu
34433 Istanbul








Website:
http://www.rob389.com

Phone and Email:
+90 (0)212 2936968
info@rob389.com

Working Hours:
Mon-Sat 9-21:30
Sun 10–21:30



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Bestsellers, Budapest

Bestsellers bookstore Budapest logo
Where? Budapest, Hungary



Visited:
February 2008
(Read more on Bestsellers in our Report from Budapest)

This is the last bookstore we visited during our stay in Budapest. Bestsellers is an exclusively foreign language bookstore and it only stocks new books.

The stock of Bestsellers amounts to more than 10 thousand titles. One part of the store is reserved for a wide offer of magazines and newspapers in English and partly in French. We also appreciated the selection of books in the humanities section, which contains titles on psychology, cultural studies, philosophy, politics, international relations, religion or sociology. There also is a history section, with a special focus on Hungarian history, but also on the Central European region in general and the Balkans. The bookstore stocks numerous books by Hungarian authors, which were translated into English. The travel section offers a wide selection of all the usual travel guides, even of the unusual destinations. The fiction section can be found in the back part of the store. The offer contains most of the new releases, and although its limited size doesn't allow for a breathtaking selection, it is surely decent. Besides books in English, which are the primary focus of this bookstore, you can also find a few shelves devoted to French books. Bestsellers also offers its customers the possibility to order the titles they desire and fail to find in the store.

Bestsellers was opened in 1992 as the first English-language bookstore in Budapest, near the Szt. István Basilica. From our point of view, this store definitely deserves your attention especially because of the well-stocked non-fiction section, while on the other hand, the rather high prices are the bookstore's downside.

Bestsellers bookstore BudapestBestsellers
Address:
Október 6. ú. 11
(V district)
1051 Budapest




Website
: http://www.bestsellers.hu/

Phone and Email:
(36-1) 312-1295
bestsellers@bestsellers.hu


Working hours:
Mon-Fri 9-18:30
Sat 10-17
Sun 10-16



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D2K, Budapest

d2k bookstore logo

Where?
Budapest, Hungary



Visited:
February 2008
(Read more on D2K in our Report from Budapest)

This is another bookstore we stumbled upon during our visit to Budapest. Unlike all the other bookstores in the city, the D2K bookstore has a very narrowly defined field of interest. It focuses uniquely on books related to design.

First of all, the owners of this bookstore deserve praise for being brave enough and starting a project like this. Since no other people entered the bookstore during our visit, we assume that D2K probably serves the needs of a smaller number of specific customers. However, this is not due to a lack of interesting titles on the shelves, but probably also to the other negative factor in play - the location of the store.

Their growing collection currently comprises of several hundred titles and each one of them is a visual delight. We found books on graphic design, photography, many books on architecture, calligraphy, typography, posters and many other related subjects. The vast majority of their books are in English.

D2K is Hungary's only design bookstore. The whole store is actually one big room, with lots of space occupied by two armchairs and a table in the middle. The shelves are spread along the walls a are filled rather sparsely. The overall impression is close to something like a museum of books, where each book is exposed in its own proper space. Anyone interested in visual arts won't leave this store disappointed. Also, be sure to check out their cool business cards...

d2k bookstore budapestD2K
Address:
Ó utca 19
(VI district)
1066 Budapest




Website:
http://www.d2k.hu/

Phone and Email:
331 49 31
info@d2k.hu

Working Hours:
Mon-Fri 10:30-20
Sat 10:30-15

Back to the list of bookstores in Budapest

Pendragon Books, Budapest

Pendragon books Budapest logo


Where? Budapest, Hungary




PENDRAGON BOOKSTORE IS [CLOSED]

Visited: February, 2008
(Read more on Pendragon Books in our Report from Budapest)

This bookstore specializes in English books only and the books themselves are very neatly organized by sections in two large rooms of the bookstore. It seemed to us that their focus were books on art and architecture but these are accompanied by a great number of fiction books (for example, there was a huge choice on particular writers such as Rushdie), children's books and travel guides. We tried finding more information on the bookstore itself but since it is probably a recently opened bookstore, their website is still under construction. The best way to find out more about the bookstore is to visit it by yourselves. We're sure you won't be disappointed, especially if you are looking for a particular book because, just judging by the number of them, they'll surely have it.

Located not so close to the center of Budapest, Pendragon Books, probably named after a novel called The Pendragon Legend by Antal Szerb (written in 1943), is definitely worth a visit especially because of their large and specially chosen sections of books: from books on movies, photography, art and architecture to fiction, science fiction and, what came as a big surprise, a corner full of books for children - bigger than what one may usually expect. The prices in Pendragon Books are of the regular kind i.e. the original price at the back of the book is converted into Hungarian Forints.

Pendragon books BudapestPendragon Books
Address:
Pozsonyi út 21-23
(XIII district)
1137 Budapest





Website:
http://www.pendragon.hu

Phone and Email:
+361 349-3049
pend@t-online.hu

Working Hours:
CLOSEDBack to the list of bookstores in Budapest

Bookstation, Budapest

bookstation budapest logo

Where?
Budapest, Hungary



Bookstation is no longer in business.
It has [CLOSED] its doors in Feb 2016.


Visited: February 2008
(Read more on Bookstation in our Report from Budapest)

This bookstore turned out to be a very positive surprise of our Budapest trip. Although it is mostly referred to as a primarily internet based bookstore, this is a huge understatement. Bookstation is a bookstore offering a mixture of carefully selected new books (mostly remainder) and loads of second hand books. It focuses uniquely on books in foreign languages, with the English section being the most prominent, but it also has a considerable German, French and Spanish section. Especially the French section deserves to be mentioned, since such a selection of second hand French books at such prices is very rare in non-francophone parts of Europe.

All in all, the Bookstation is the home of more than 30 thousand titles. The prices of the second hand books are very affordable, mostly around 5€. The English stock comprises of several sections (though they were not labeled) - science fiction/fantasy and books for kids and juveniles can be found in the first room, the second room houses fiction, biographies, social sciences, history, travel and also the only dark corner of this store, the chick lit section. (although De gustibus non es disputandum...) The selection itself is quite wide, and a thorough browsing of the fiction section will almost surely make you cheer over the discovery of some unexpected gems.
Be sure to check out the store's website (available in four languages), with a very well organized online catalogue of all the books on stock and the possibility to order.

The Bookstation was founded in 2003 and has been growing in size ever ever since. It used to be located near Keleti train station but in July 2008, they moved to a location near the Nygati train station - thus their name still has the ambiguity of being a both station of books and located near a train station. Books are stored in shelves which reach all the way up to the ceiling and in order to explore the upper parts of the shelves you have to climb a pretty high ladder. There's also a reading corner with a table and several chairs which along with the good music underline the pleasant atmosphere.

bookstation budapestBookstation
Address:
Katona József u. 13
(XIII district)
Budapest






Website:
http://www.bookstation.hu/

Phone and Email:
413-1158, 413-1159
info@bookstation.hu

Working Hours:
Mon-Sat 10-19

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Petra's International Bookshop, Madrid

Petras International Bookshop Madrid logo
Where? Madrid, Spain




[UPDATE] Petra's International Bookshop CLOSED in 2014 [UPDATE]

For more info, check out their Facebook Page.


Recommended by: Miguel Marcos
Visited: August 2008
(Read more on Petra's International Bookshop in our Report from Madrid)

Miguel said: "Petra's International Bookshop sells used books in many languages including English, you can sell books for store credit"

We have really enjoyed our visit of Petra's International Bookstore during our stay in Madrid. This bookstore is full of history and nice memories, loads and loads of books in all imaginable languages, English being the largely prevalent one. As we try to explain in our Report from Madrid, if you really wish to discover what this bookstore has to offer, it is going to require much more than just a few minutes of your time. We have to add, that we definitely recommend that you reserve some time for your visit, as the experience is really worth it.

The bookstore itself consists of several rooms which literally suck you until you reach the last small room with the leather armchair where you can take a well-deserved rest. The offer of the bookstore covers so many subjects, that it's difficult to name them all - the first room holds mainly fiction, both modern and the classics, but there's also sci-fi and fantasy and in the other rooms you can find separate sections dedicated to politics, sports, travel, gardening, medicine, psychology, art, theater, cinema, photography, economics or comics and books for kids. Petra's International Bookstore is strictly second-hand and many of the books are offered at really low prices.

Petras International Bookshop MadridPetra's International Bookshop
Address:
C/Campomanes, 13
Madrid

Petras International Bookshop Madrid













Phone:

915 41 72 91

Working Hours:
CLOSED


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