William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6066 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French
| Message 17 of 24 09 February 2009 at 6:24am | IP Logged |
For people who read or are learning Italian, there is a small specialist bookshop down in a side alley near Leicester Square tube station. I'll update this the next time I go there, and give the exact name and street name.
Specialising in French, there is a small but good bookshop on Harrington Street, near South Kensington tube station, where there are a lot of cultural venues devoted to France and French.
In terms of general language bookshops, I don't have anything to add to what has been said already.
Edited by William Camden on 09 February 2009 at 6:24am
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Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 5828 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds
| Message 18 of 24 09 February 2009 at 10:12am | IP Logged |
Uh. It's a pity I didn't see this topic a couple of months ago, when I visited London. I must have passed near Foyles at least 5 times.
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Dark_Sunshine Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5559 days ago 340 posts - 357 votes Speaks: English*, French
| Message 19 of 24 19 February 2009 at 10:06pm | IP Logged |
Charing Cross road is generally the place to be in London if you like bookshops as it has so many, incuding specialist and second-hand stores- although a few are closing down right now due to the 'global economic crisis' etc.
I'd echo the recommendations of Foyles (the large one on Charing Cross road). I live in London and I spend most of my money in that shop! They have lots of foreign language books too.
Borders over the road doesn't have anywhere near the number of books, but it is good for getting obscure journals, magazines and foreign language newspapers as Foyles doesn't sell periodicals.
A little tip- Borders is also good if you want to browse a few books without paying for them. To my knowledge it is the only bookshop in London where you can take books into the cafe (Starbucks) without buying them first! But don't tell them I said this...
I realise this is an old thread- but I don't know of the Grant & Cutler store. Does anyone know if it's still there?
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Dark_Sunshine Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5559 days ago 340 posts - 357 votes Speaks: English*, French
| Message 20 of 24 19 February 2009 at 10:11pm | IP Logged |
William Camden wrote:
Specialising in French, there is a small but good bookshop on Harrington Street, near South Kensington tube station, where there are a lot of cultural venues devoted to France and French.
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Is this near the institut francais? I've been considering a visit (to the institute) but I can't afford the courses and Kensington is a little out of the way for me. Would you recommend it?
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Dark_Sunshine Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5559 days ago 340 posts - 357 votes Speaks: English*, French
| Message 21 of 24 19 February 2009 at 10:24pm | IP Logged |
To answer my own question, Grant & Cutler is still there, according to their website. I'm so excited I'm going to go there tomorrow! They even seem to have a reasonable selection of Romanian resources, something I've been looking for ages, and it's been on my doorstep the whole time! I'm so glad I found this thread :-)
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William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6066 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French
| Message 22 of 24 21 February 2009 at 12:50am | IP Logged |
I was at Grant and Cutler today. The best-represented language is French, taking up at least a quarter of the space, but there are a lot of other languages there.
The Harrington St. shop is round the corner from the IF. It probably has few or no books you wouldn't get at Grant and Cutler. It does sell French magazines and I think newspapers, and the basement has a fine selection of Clairefontaine stationery, notebooks etc. I think it's worth a look, on a day when you want to rip apart the Science Museum etc., which are just up the road. Whether I would make a special trip to Kensington just for the Harrington shop - no.
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William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6066 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French
| Message 23 of 24 23 February 2009 at 4:39pm | IP Logged |
http://librairielapage.over-blog.com/
The website of the Harrington Street French bookshop.
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William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6066 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French
| Message 24 of 24 03 March 2009 at 6:53pm | IP Logged |
The Italian bookshop is in Cecil Court, a small side street near Leicester Square station. It is a small shop but quite impressive, though there have been price rises of the order of 10% for imported books because sterling has fallen against the euro.
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