Day 2 – Heywood Hill Ltd

Heywood hill is a place of quiet calm and elegance.  This Mayfair book shop was opened in 1936  and is well known as the bookshop where Nancy Mitford once worked.  There is in fact a blue plaque on the wall outside of the shop announcing it.  On their website Heywood Hill say “Her  gregarious character and witty repartee helped establish Heywood Hill’s shop as a centre of English social and literary life during the 1940s”.

I love stepping inside a bookshop where so much history has gone before me. I love to think of the conversations and gossip which has taken place here.  I suspect these neatly stacked highly polished shelves have heard many secrets over the years.  Beautiful antique tables are carefully stacked with titles specially chosen to appeal to their customers new and old.  Heywood Hill may be small  but it is a discerning bookshop with each book carefully chosen.

  “As our premises are small every title must justify its place on our shelves”

The booksellers are extremely knowledgeable and helpful.  On a recent visit I had some particularly niche requirements for a gift I was looking for.  The bookseller who took care of me was full of helpful suggestions, and spent lots of time talking to me about possible authors and books which might be appropriate.  We chatted for a while about the authors we came to know as children and have continued to love as adults  and  I left with lots of ideas for future reading.

If you are a collector of books,  searching  for antiquarian books, or even seeking to build your own library then Heywood Hill is for you. If you just love to read, want to escape the high street and the larger busier book shops to peruse in quiet then Heywood Hill is also for you.

Heywood Hill is situated conveniently next door to G F Trumper the finest traditional gentlemen’s barber in London. These two historical gems sit very comfortably together and both are regular Christmas shopping, stops for me.

Nearest Tube: Green Park, Piccadilly and Jubilee lines