BLACKWELL’S, OXFORD

 

‘Those who stepped inside from the noisy street found quiet and an invitation.’ 

Blackwell’s at 50 Broad Street has been a household Oxford name since its founding in 1879. ‘A megastore, in which you don’t feel lost for even a moment,’ says David de Goede. The bookstore is located in England’s oldest university town, so it’s no surprise that academic titles have always been their bread and butter. You can notice this especially in the impressive basement which was expanded in 1966. In this underground academic heart of the shop, you will find more than 150,000 books spread over nearly 5 kilometers of shelves. 

The rich history of the building itself is still visible; In the ‘poetry corner’, on the first floor, you can still find some of the original bookshelves from the 19th century, and the ‘gaffer’s office’, where former owners Benjamin Henry and his son Basil Blackwell once had their offices, remains intact. On a placard inside the store, you can read Blackwell’s old promise, one kept for 145 years: ‘Those who came in from the noisy cobblestone street [the street was paved in 1879, ed.] found quiet, and an invitation – not so much spoken as conveyed by the friendly spirit of the bookseller – to scrutinise and handle the books on the shelves without obligation to buy.’