Oxford Book Crawl (Oxford, England)
Oxford is rich in literary history and has an impressive pedigree. J.R.R. Tolkien was a professor at Oxford University, and it's said that Middle-Earth was heavily influenced by Oxford's surroundings. C.S. Lewis attended school there, where he took inspiration from Oxford's intellectual atmosphere when creating Narnia. Tolkien and Lewis often hung out and were in the modern-day version of a book club called The Inklings, where they met at the local pub, the Eagle and Child. Oh, to be a time-traveling fly on the wall of that pub.
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (AKA Lewis Carroll) was also there and wrote Alice in Wonderland while living at Oxford University. There is a door at Christ Church College that is the inspiration for the famous rabbit hole that dropped Alice into Wonderland. And the Oxford Botanic Garden Botanic Garden inspired the flora in the stories. (We went to the Botanic Garden, and it's quite magical.) Without the famous boat trip on the River Thames from Oxford to Godstow with a girl named Alice and her sister, we would never have the story in the first place.
As if that weren't enough, scenes from Harry Potter were filmed here, like the staircase in Hogwarts, filmed at the Great Dining Hall at Christ Church College. Not to mention all the famous literary alumni who attended Oxford University, like Oscar Wilde, Agatha Christie, and Percy Shelley.
Needless to say, I jumped at the chance to participate in a book crawl in Oxford. Let me tell you, like literary influence, Oxford did not skimp on their bookstores. The cobblestone walkways and towering spire made for a very dreamy day of book shopping. We went to nine bookstores, but I don't want to bore you with all of them, so here are my top four favorites of the day and ones that are a must if you're in Oxford.
Daunt Books
It seems like at least two people in every crowd in London are carrying a Daunt Books canvas bag. I’ve wanted to check out this popular bookstore for a while and was pleased that it was the first stop on our crawl.
This independent bookstore chain is relatively new, with a few locations scattered around England. It was first started in the 1990s by James Daunt (now the CEO of Barnes and Noble and Waterstones) and has remained independently owned ever since.
On the smaller side, compared to Waterstones or Foyles, it packs a punch. The thing that really knocked my socks off was the organization of the store. Their sections were broken up by the different countries in which the books took place, including fiction and nonfiction books. I’ve never seen a bookstore organized like this before. It’s great! Many times before going on a trip, I want to read something that took place in the country I’m visiting and only wished for a bookstore organized this way.
I also gave Daunt points for their multiple table displays. However, my one gripe is that the tables weren’t labeled to identify the themes of the books on them.
I will definitely be checking out the Daunt bookstores closer to me in London and maybe even joining the Daunt Books canvas bag-carrying club.
Add this to your must-visit bookstore list.
Gulp Fiction
This one was situated inside The Covered Market. We didn’t have much time to explore the market, but we will definitely add that to the next Oxford visit. Anyway, it was certainly one of the smaller bookstores we went to, but it was filled with the best books. It was a bookstore/café serving coffee and cocktails. They even had a happy hour! Who doesn’t love a happy hour at a bookstore? Hello, tipsy book purchases. Sadly, we were on a tour with other people, and they didn't seem like the group to do that with.
You know how I feel about a good curated book table. The tables were labeled with the cutest names. You could tell they put a lot of thought into these tables. I purchased a book off the table and got a free coffee!
This bookstore also gets another point for having the friendliest staff. As we were checking out, the bookseller/barista said he had just started the book I purchased for his book club and was enjoying it. You could tell that everyone working there was passionate about their job and were ready to talk books.
A cute bookstore with a pretty name and a delicious café!
Last Bookshop
When we were checking into our hotel (AKA an old castle converted into a jail converted again into a hotel, very cool) the girl at the front desk said this was one of her favorite bookstore and that all the books were five pounds or less. Say no more, I was so excited to check it out.
It’s a part of Ben and Bill’s books which is a bookselling operation that coins themselves as “not your average booksellers” because they don’t stock the latest best sellers or must-have books. Instead, their goal is to cut down on publishing waste by buying and selling the books that are left unsold and about to be made into pulp, giving them a second life. I found quite a few gems here. On Earth We are Briefly Gorgeous has been on my TBR list for years and there’s still a six month hold on it at the library. I picked up a brand-new copy at The Last Bookshop for 5 pounds. It's such a good concept.
This is a bookstore you have to go into not looking for something specific and browse.
Blackwell’s Book
Last but certainly not least, Blackwell’s Books, the holy grail of Oxford bookstores, was spectacular! Its different rooms and floors reminded me a lot of Powells in Portland, Oregon. It’s massive and overwhelming in the best possible way.
Blackwell’s is steeped in history. The store on Broad Street opened in 1879 (the year the lightbulb was invented) by the first Librarian at the town’s library. Tolkien got his start by selling his first poem, Goblin’s Feet, here in 1915.
We were lucky enough to get a tour of the place and a behind-the-scenes look at the Gaffner’s Office, where Blackwell did all of his book deals, including Tolkien’s. The office still has the original wallpaper and desk that date back to the late 1800s.
The Norrington Room, named after the President of Trinity College, was my favorite room. For many years, it held the record for the world’s largest single display of books, boasting over 2.5 miles of shelving until Waterstones in Piccadilly took that title.
They also had an antiquarian book section that boasted quite an impressive collection, with many first editions and even some letters and postcards signed by Virginia Wolf and others that could be yours for the low price of a few thousand pounds. The gentleman in charge of this section said he was happy to take out anything we wanted to hold/see.
Blackwell’s also had a large number of perfectly curated book tables. I loved this “Found in Translation” sign on one of them.
I’m not exaggerating when I say we could have spent hours and hours in there and still not explored it all. We will definitely be making the drive to Oxford just for Blackwells.
Until next time, happy reading!
