Charing Cross Road Bookshops

 When I am in London I like to peruse the bookshops on Charing Cross Road which is renowned for its specialist antiquarian and secondhand bookshops.

I love the low lit, dusty, damp, and mysterious isles of cramped books full of hidden stories and history beckoning to be looked at. The thought of finding something serendipitous amongst the shelves fill me with excitement.

There is a best selling book named after the street called “84 Charing Cross Road”, a 1970 book by Helene Hanff , about a twenty year correspondence between Frank Doel chief Buyer of Marks & Co and her.

 I thought I would spend time sketching some of the bookshops that are still surviving. Bookshops especially second hand ones seem to be in decline and driven out of business by the Internet and Ebooks. 

I am building quite a collection of shop front illustrations. I am inspired by the Typefaces and signage on buildings. I have used A Lamy Safari fountain pen to do the pen work on situ and then digitally coloured the sketches using Photoshop.

Charing Cross Road Bookshops

up the archway road

On my full last day in London, I took the tube down to Archway to meet my cousin Dawn Painter for some sketching around Highgate. This was my old neighbourhood before we moved to the States., and I still love it around there. I used to live on Hornsey Lane, a few doors down from the bridge above, Archway Bridge. Of course, this bridge is better known as Suicide Bridge. Unfortunately, it's a name more commonly earned than I realised before I lived there. Dawn and I sketched beneath the bridge, beside the busy Archway Road, where the 134 bus charges down on its way into central London. Because I lived higher up Highgate Hill I would not come up this way much, so it was fun to come back and explore a bit more. We popped into one store full of second hand stuff where I saw a full set of Worzel Gummidge dvds. We grabbed a sandwich at Tescos and sat opposite the Jackson Lane building, an arts centre not far from Highgate tube station.   We walked further up to Ripping Yarns, an amazing antiquarian bookstore stacked to the brim with wonderful books. Hardly enough room inside to turn around. They specialize in old children's books but also have lots of other books as well. We spent a lot of time in there, I was looking through many of the old annuals, Roy of the Rovers, the Beano, Topper, all those I used to have on my own shelves. We sat opposite the bookshop and sketched it, and then it was time to go. I had to pack my bags to fly back to America.

up the archway road