Biblio-Text: Travis & Emery / Watkins

Rachel Holdsworth
By Rachel Holdsworth Last edited 177 months ago

Last Updated 02 July 2009

Biblio-Text: Travis & Emery / Watkins
Travis & Emery: a programme from the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in 1827
Travis & Emery: a programme from the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in 1827
Travis & Emery: music scores, old and new
Travis & Emery: music scores, old and new
Travis & Emery: prints, often the beautifully illustrated covers of scores that long ago fell to pieces
Travis & Emery: prints, often the beautifully illustrated covers of scores that long ago fell to pieces
Travis & Emery: this Schubert score dates from 1824
Travis & Emery: this Schubert score dates from 1824
Outside Travis & Emery
Outside Travis & Emery
Watkins: even the carpet continues the theme
Watkins: even the carpet continues the theme
Watkins: under the watchful eye of Ganesh
Watkins: under the watchful eye of Ganesh
Watkins: there's a mixture of new and second hand books here
Watkins: there's a mixture of new and second hand books here
Watkins: this is what we mean by "esoteric"
Watkins: this is what we mean by "esoteric"
Watkins: the oldest shop on the street, here since 1905
Watkins: the oldest shop on the street, here since 1905

Continuing our amble round Cecil Court's independent bookshops

Travis & Emery, the street's music specialists, celebrate their 50th birthday next year. That's 50 years of selling secondhand antiquarian sheet music for all kinds of instruments, scores and books covering all aspects of music. They also have collections of prints, programmes and photographs, and occasionally publish their own reprints of older works. If you're a musician or just passionate about the art, this is the place for you.

Watkins Books was born in 1894 out of the library of the Theosophical Society. They moved to Cecil Court in 1905, and are easily the country's oldest esoteric bookshop. In simple language, that's spirituality, mysticism, astrology and the like. You can pick up a tarot deck or, if you can't be faffed to learn yourself, have a reading done for you.

Travis & Emery, 17 Cecil Court / Watkins Books, 19-21 Cecil Court WC2N. Map after the jump, images author's own. Know a good bookshop? Email us at londonist (@) gmail.com.

Other posts:

Introduction

Marchpane / Goldsboro Books

Pleasures of Past Times / Tim Bryars

Motor Books


View Biblio-Text in a larger map