Saturday 2 October 2010

The Cottage Book Shop - A Book Lover's Heaven

The very familiar Enid Blyton hardback shelf

Today I visited the Cottage Bookshop to stock up my bookshelf, it's a wonderful second hand bookshop which many people come to from miles around. For me, it's like an Aladdin's Cave of books- a treasure trove of books! As it's quite an old building its a fantastic place to explore with creaking staircases and rooms filled with bookshelves and books piled up on the floor too in every nook and cranny. I found out today that there are a total of 65,000 books and it's quite a small building too. It makes me wonder how long some of the books have been there, hidden behind 2 rows of books in front of them! Any type of book you could ever want is there, it's a book lover's paradise.
They have a large section filled with Enid Blyton books there and over a few years I collected around 100 of them which I still have. There are also many children's classics there too such as Little Woman, some of them are very old and valuable editions. I found many rare hardback Angela Brazil girl's school stories today, one of them was printed in 1926, possibly a first edition?
I could spend all day in there reading and exploring but the amount I spend there is always more than I expect it will be!
 Here are some photos that I took there to share with you and of me reading

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Looking down the staircase







 









Me caught reading



A 1st edition Angela Brazil book



















 
Upstairs corridoor
Part of the children's section

  


The books that I bought

 

Me looking out of the window




Do you have a favourite second-hand bookshop near you?

12 comments:

  1. Oh my heck...this is too awesome! I wish we had a good secondhand bookshop around here, but I've looked and couldn't find one. On the plus side, I'm moving, so maybe I'll find something in my new town! :)

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  2. Wow, that place looks so amazing!! Used bookstores can be so much fun because you never know what you're going to find.

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  3. That place looks sooo neat! I haven't ventured to fins any book shops in my area- I always end up at Borders- I like the atmosphere there. I wanted to pass along the Versatile Blogger award- Because I think your blog is Fantastic! If you dont mind the posting intructions are on my blog!

    http://undomesticated-productsonline.blogspot.com/

    Have a great weekend!

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  4. Great photos! Isn't it great to find a cozy bookstore chockfull of finds? Thanks for sharing :o)

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  5. That looks amazing! How did you limit yourself to just those books?

    My favourite second hand bookshop is in Charing Cross Road in London. It's a bit pricy compared to similar shops outside London, but I recent got a beautiful 1800s edition of Arabian nights in there :)

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  6. Seriously I am SOOOO jealous of you. There aren't any great finds like this around my town. I really just head into the Goodwill, or hold out until the library has their semi-annual book sale. That place looks so cozy and wonderful -- my idea of heaven!

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  7. What an awesome second hand book shop. I have one near me, but it is not nearly as extensive.

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  8. Oh. My. Goodness. That place is amazing! I have a used book shop/exchange near me which I frequent. I LOVE it, though it has nowhere near as many books as your place does!

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  9. you are tagged in a game: http://splashofourworlds.blogspot.com/2010/10/notable-quotables-2-we-are-tagged.html#more

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  10. Oh my gosh, this looks like an amazing book store! It looks just like every book store should, cozy, crazy, and packed with books. I'm relatively new to my town, and I don't have a car, so I haven't really explored all the used book store options here yet. I hope I find something as good as this!

    - Emily @ Reading While Female

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  11. What a great post idea! I love used book stores, there isn't one near me, but I always try to find them if I'm on vacation.

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  12. Hey Stephanie, just stopping by to tag you in an international game of blogger tag! See my blog for details :)

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Stephanie x