SC Edit — London’s Best Art & Design Bookshops

ICA Bookshop

Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH

The ICA Bookshop is home to avant-garde and unusual art-related reading material, housed in a beautiful Regency building en route to Buckingham Palace. The shop focuses on contemporary art and culture, providing an intellectual selection of key contemporary thinkers, theorists and philosophers. Small presses and independent publications are well represented, as are vintage and second-hand titles from Luminous Books, the ICA’s own publishing platform. It also sells difficult-to-find magazines, including special interest, self-published and rare titles, DVDs, and limited-edition prints of emerging artists’ work.

Libreria

65 Hanbury St, London E1 5JP

Though technically not a specialist in art and design, Libreria’s distinctive approach and remarkable interior makes it an exceptional addition to our list. Intended to inspire a fresh appreciation for physical books rather than digital devices, the store has a strict no-phones policy. José Selgas and Lucía Cano, the architects behind last year’s colourful Serpentine Pavilion, used the 1940’s tale by Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges, The Library of Babel, as the starting point for their design. Libreria was founded by Rohan Silva and Sam Aldenton, who previously commissioned SelgasCano to design their flagship creative space, Second Home, located conveniently next-door. Guest curators, including award-winning writer Jeanette Winterson, Wired editor David Rowan, and sculptor Richard Wentworth, have compiled shelves in Libreria, bringing together their favourite titles. Alongside the finely curated selection of books spanning various genres, the space also hosts a growingly popular series of seminars, workshops, gigs and performances.

Artwords

69 Rivington Street, London EC2A 3AY / 20-22 Broadway Market, London E8 4QJ

Ben Hillwood-Harris, an ex-Waterstone’s bookseller, launched Artwords in 2001. The shop is a specialist in contemporary visual culture, supplying customers with the most up-to-date publications, and offering imported books and magazines from Europe and North America. Hillwood-Harris’ two shops have links with artists such as Banksy and Tim Noble and hold regular readings and launch events. They stock a diverse selection of illustrated hardbacks, a number of signed and rare editions, as well as titles that cover theory and critical analysis in fine art, architecture, art history, fashion, graphic design and photography.

Architectural Association Bookshop

32 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3ES

The AA Bookshop, a valuable resource for the art and architecture community, is one of London’s leading specialists in architecture publications, stocking acclaimed volumes published by the Architectural Association alongside a comprehensive range of titles from British and international publishers. Affiliated with the Architectural Association School, this charming Bloomsbury shop is energised by the school’s popular public programme of lectures and exhibitions. Housed in a beautifully preserved Georgian building on Bedford Square, the bookshop is located nearby many leading architectural offices, schools and organisations, including the Bartlett and RIBA. The AA Bookshop has been an important feature of the Association for many years and draws international visitors to the area. The Association’s interests are reflected in the thoughtful selection of titles stocked at the store.

The Tate Shop

Bankside, London SE1 9TG

Inside the Tate Modern’s recently opened Herzog & de Meuron extension, at the top of the building’s impressive concrete staircase, sits the new Tate Shop, double height and stretching to an impressive 500 square meters. Designed by Netherlands-based consumer experience agency UXUS, The Tate Shop stocks a diverse selection of books focussed on art and design, with shelves categorised by creative disciplines, such as photography, painting, and performance. Alongside a notable collection of artist catalogues and the Tate’s own publications, the store also carries an eclectic range of international magazines, independent publications, jewellery and limited edition artist prints.

Tenderbooks

6 Cecil Court, London WC2N 4HE

Located a short walk from Leicester Square, Cecil Court is a picturesque late Victorian thoroughfare linking Charing Cross Road and St Martin’s Lane, pedestrianised and seemingly immune from the bustle of the city which surrounds it. Tenderbooks, next-door to Tenderpixel Gallery, is a space for independent artist publications and unique contemporary art books; publication launches, readings and events take place weekly. The shop also stages monthly exhibitions dedicated to the book work of a featured artist or press. These displays are often conceived around the idea of the ‘ex libris’ with a view to showcasing personal libraries, rare material and ephemera. Tenderbooks frequently commissions publications and limited editions, collaborating with their partner gallery to support artist projects and experimental publishing.

Whitechapel Gallery Bookshop

77-82 Whitechapel High St, London E1 7QX

Managed by Walther Koenig Books, the same organisation that runs the Serpentine Gallery store, the Whitechapel Gallery Bookshop offers a wide range of titles on modern and contemporary art, photography, architecture and art theory. Housed within Whitechapel Gallery, formerly a public library, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, it was opened in 1901 as one of the first publicly funded galleries for temporary exhibitions in London. The London Art Book Fair, hosted at the Whitechapel Gallery for the past seven years, presents the best in international arts publishing, showcasing artists’ books, catalogues, zines, rare publications and brand new releases. The event sees over 90 independent publishers and presses exhibit and sell their work on-site over four days.

 

Text by Keshav Anand