Bookshop Blog

Travelling to Timbuctoo - Not Everyone Gets There! Shapero Rare Books

Travelling to Timbuctoo - Not Everyone Gets There!

The first thing that needs saying is that not everybody that sets out for Timbuctoo gets there. In my case, driving down from Algiers in the 1970’s, much to my...

Travel

Travelling to Timbuctoo - Not Everyone Gets There!

The first thing that needs saying is that not everybody that sets out for Timbuctoo gets there. In my case, driving down from Algiers in the 1970’s, much to my...

Heinrich Schliemann - A Man of Our Times Shapero Rare Books

Heinrich Schliemann - A Man of Our Times

Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), although born almost 200 years ago, seems very much a man of our times.

Travel

Heinrich Schliemann - A Man of Our Times

Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), although born almost 200 years ago, seems very much a man of our times.

Inspirational Quotes From Literature Shapero Rare Books

Inspirational Quotes From Literature

Need some motivation to keep on top of those new year resolutions? Who better to take advice from than famous authors, poets and novelists.

Literature

Inspirational Quotes From Literature

Need some motivation to keep on top of those new year resolutions? Who better to take advice from than famous authors, poets and novelists.

'Dr Livingstone I Presume' - Iconic Meeting Was 150 Years Ago Shapero Rare Books

'Dr Livingstone I Presume' - Iconic Meeting Was...

Today marks the 150th anniversary of one of those moments that schoolchildren remember all their lives, for a single phrase.

Travel

'Dr Livingstone I Presume' - Iconic Meeting Was...

Today marks the 150th anniversary of one of those moments that schoolchildren remember all their lives, for a single phrase.

Remarkable Books By Remarkable Travellers Shapero Rare Books

Remarkable Books By Remarkable Travellers

When putting our new travel catalogue together, one of the first things that goes through my mind is how it will take shape. Inevitably this involves creating geographical chapters of...

Travel

Remarkable Books By Remarkable Travellers

When putting our new travel catalogue together, one of the first things that goes through my mind is how it will take shape. Inevitably this involves creating geographical chapters of...

Russian Art & Theatre - Latest Russian Catalogue Shapero Rare Books

Russian Art & Theatre - Latest Russian Catalogue

Our story begins at the end of the nineteenth century with the fairytale illustrated by Sergey Malyutin which was revolutionary in terms of book illustration as it incorporated design into...

Russian Art & Theatre - Latest Russian Catalogue

Our story begins at the end of the nineteenth century with the fairytale illustrated by Sergey Malyutin which was revolutionary in terms of book illustration as it incorporated design into...

Qur'ans - Five Examples From Our Shelves Shapero Rare Books

Qur'ans - Five Examples From Our Shelves

Where collecting is concerned, the Qur’an is a multi-faceted text that has taken many forms since its arrival in the Muslim world over a millennia ago. Written by Roxana Kashani

Qur'ans - Five Examples From Our Shelves

Where collecting is concerned, the Qur’an is a multi-faceted text that has taken many forms since its arrival in the Muslim world over a millennia ago. Written by Roxana Kashani

Iraq, The Land Where Writing Began Shapero Rare Books

Iraq, The Land Where Writing Began

As book lovers we all owe a debt of gratitude to the Sumerians, the early inhabitants of the land now called Iraq, who invented writing 5000 years ago.

Travel

Iraq, The Land Where Writing Began

As book lovers we all owe a debt of gratitude to the Sumerians, the early inhabitants of the land now called Iraq, who invented writing 5000 years ago.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service: Writers and Spies Shapero Rare Books

On Her Majesty's Secret Service: Writers and Spies

The banning of books by dissident authors in repressive regimes such as Stalinist Russia is well-documented, but here are some titles you might not have realised were also banned –...

Literature

On Her Majesty's Secret Service: Writers and Spies

The banning of books by dissident authors in repressive regimes such as Stalinist Russia is well-documented, but here are some titles you might not have realised were also banned –...

The Natural History Books of Edward Donovan Shapero Rare Books

The Natural History Books of Edward Donovan

The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries saw the publication of some of the most beautiful natural history books ever printed.

The Natural History Books of Edward Donovan

The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries saw the publication of some of the most beautiful natural history books ever printed.

The Barbary Coast Shapero Rare Books

The Barbary Coast

Thinking of the British and Africa, I suppose the things that comes to mind are the Quest for the Source of the Nile, Brits in East Africa and South Africa,...

Travel

The Barbary Coast

Thinking of the British and Africa, I suppose the things that comes to mind are the Quest for the Source of the Nile, Brits in East Africa and South Africa,...

Travels To The Roof of The World Shapero Rare Books

Travels To The Roof of The World

The Tibetan plateau, situated at some 15,000 feet (4500 metres), surrounded by great mountain ranges which include the two tallest mountains in the world, Everest and K2, was one of...

Travel

Travels To The Roof of The World

The Tibetan plateau, situated at some 15,000 feet (4500 metres), surrounded by great mountain ranges which include the two tallest mountains in the world, Everest and K2, was one of...

St Petersburg Shapero Rare Books

St Petersburg

On the boggy delta of the Neva, Peter the Great founded his ‘window to the West’ in 1703. Through sheer determination and at the cost of thousands of lives, European...

Travel

St Petersburg

On the boggy delta of the Neva, Peter the Great founded his ‘window to the West’ in 1703. Through sheer determination and at the cost of thousands of lives, European...

Did They Really Do That? Shapero Rare Books

Did They Really Do That?

Some of the greatest feats of British exploration have occurred in my lifetime – Hilary’s ascent of Everest, Fuchs traversing the Antarctic, and Francis Chichester’s solo circumnavigation.

Travel

Did They Really Do That?

Some of the greatest feats of British exploration have occurred in my lifetime – Hilary’s ascent of Everest, Fuchs traversing the Antarctic, and Francis Chichester’s solo circumnavigation.

The Holy Land In The Original Cloth Shapero Rare Books

The Holy Land In The Original Cloth

The other day I received an e-mail offering me a copy of Brand’s History of Newcastle (1789). Or at least some of it, it was an odd volume lacking most...

Travel

The Holy Land In The Original Cloth

The other day I received an e-mail offering me a copy of Brand’s History of Newcastle (1789). Or at least some of it, it was an odd volume lacking most...