Get lost with us on a bookish road trip through Edinburgh, Scotland, home to the Edinburgh Castle, built on an extinct volcano.
Hi, I’m Julie Valerie. Do you love bookstores as much as I do?
EDINBURGH: City of Literature
It’s no wonder Edinburgh was named the world’s first UNESCO “City of Literature.” In 1725, the world’s first circulating library opened in Edinburgh and today free public libraries can be found all over the city. In 1768, the first copy of the Encyclopaedia Britannica was published in Edinburgh.
More recently, the projects undertaken by the National Library of Scotland are massive in scope, including a recent project to make available online 240 rare medieval and early modern manuscripts.
Important to the literary landscape of Scotland, Edinburgh is also home to the Scottish Poetry Library, the Scottish Book Trust, and the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
FEATURED BOOKSHOP: Scottish Storytelling Centre Bookshop
When visiting the Scottish Storytelling Centre, be sure to spend time in their bookshop, located in the medieval luckenbooths of John Knox House and featuring some truly incredible Scottish story and storytelling resources.
If you’re traveling in August, checkout the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the world’s largest literary festival of its kind. Over a two-week period, the Edinburgh International Book Festival typically hosts 900 events and welcomes over 225,000 visitors and approximately 800 authors from nearly 40 countries.
If you’re traveling in October, don’t miss The Scottish International Storytelling Festival, billed as “one of the most admired storytelling events in the world and the largest of its kind – both from a programming and participation perspective – encompassing a wealth of cultures, traditions and styles. A world of stories within the Festival City.”
Publishing Scotland, a membership body and a charity established in 1974, is the national organization for publishers based there, and acts as a “network, trade, and development body for the book publishing sector in Scotland.” BookSource, one of the UK’s fastest growing distributors, is run by Publishing Scotland.
Edinburgh is the birthplace and home to world-famous writers, poets, and playwrights including J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter) and Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes). Located in Edinburgh, the Writers’ Museum celebrates the lives of three giants of Scottish Literature: Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson. If you visit the Writers’ Museum, don’t miss Makars’ Court, situated next door.
POTTERHEAD PILGRIMAGE: J.K. Rowling in Edinburgh
J.K. Rowling wrote portions of her Harry Potter novels in an Edinburgh café.
That café? The Elephant House, a popular site for Potterhead pilgrimages. There, Rowling took inspiration from the landscape for her characters and locations. And what a landscape it is—Edinburgh has more trees per person in its population than any other city in the United Kingdom. Watch as J.K. Rowling discusses her time spent writing at The Elephant House.
PLEASE NOTE: The Elephant House recently experienced a fire in their building and was closed at the time of this writing, but I’m optimistic it will reopen soon.
Tap the above “5 Edinburgh Cafes Where JK Rowling Did *Not* Write Harry Potter” photo for recommendations for wonderful Edinburgh cafés that can’t claim Harry Potter fame because they didn’t exist at the time, but are wonderful locations in which to grab a cup coffee and write.
CITY VIBE: an old walled town and a new town
It’s fascinating to think “the city of Edinburgh” is made up of two towns.
Edinburgh is both an old walled town (founded around 7 AD) and a new town created after the 1706 Treaty of the Union, which joined the kingdoms of Scotland and England into the “United Kingdom.” Once this occurred, the wealthy merchants living within the walled town wanted more freedom to travel back and forth to London. Hence, the new town was built just outside of the old town. Architects submitted ideas, a winning design was chosen, and a new town was created based on the Union Jack Flag, a symbolic tribute to the newly formed United Kingdom and the first example of a city designed geometrically.
There are over 50 bookshops in Edinburgh. While you’re discovering this beautiful city, consider stopping by one of the 19 Edinburgh booksellers featured in this post.
And stay tuned for my next “Bookstores Around the World” feature. Coming soon.
Enjoy!
– Julie
More from the Bookstores Around the World column:
Edinburgh, Scotland: 19 Must-Visit Bookstores in Edinburgh, Scotland: Bookish Road Trip travel to the world’s first UNESCO “City of Literature”
Paris, France: A Bibliophile in Paris: 14 Bookstores, 9 Libraries, and 3 Literary Museums You Don’t Want to Miss
Sydney, Australia: Literature Lovers in Sydney, Australia: Book Fair Australia, Writing Festivals, True Crime “BAD” things, and 6 Bookstores You Don’t Want to Miss!
Atlanta, Georgia USA: A Book Lover’s Atlanta: DragonCon, National Book Club Conference, and 12 Must-Visit Atlanta Bookstores
Houston, Texas USA: Houston Literary Events and Bookstores: Where to Find Your Next Great Read in H-Town
Hong Kong: Book Lovers Visiting Hong Kong: Enjoy these Bookstores and English-language Art & Literary Attractions
Memphis, Tennessee USA: Mid-South Book Festival + 7 Must-Visit Memphis Bookstores
LIST OF BOOKSTORES: 19 Must-Visit Bookstores in Edinburgh, Scotland
Listed in alphabetical order with highlights from each bookseller’s website.
ARMCHAIR BOOKS
72-74 West Port
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH1 2LE
+44 (0)131 229 5927
From their website:
Very nearly alphabetized chaos.
Armchair Books ekes out its intense and blustery existence on Edinburgh’s hallowed West Port…ancient home of booksellers. In view of the castle, above the Grassmarket, it bakes under the torrid Scottish sun. The dangers are manifold; our overburdened shelves groan like masts in a squall, our threadbare and quasi-oriental rugs may distractingly catch the eye or foot. Books in the window may spontaneously burst into flames, and the Managers must be kept locked in at all times… Sporadically under feeble but sinister attack by the government, we struggle under goad of Fear, towards Beauty.
BLACKWELL’S BOOKSHOP – at the time of this writing, this iconic, independent, 143-year-old bookstore had been recently acquired by Waterstones, ending family ownership of this beloved institution. Because the situation is fluid, I don’t believe I’m in the position to post more at the moment.
EDINBURGH BOOKS
145-147 West Port
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH3 9DP
+44 (0)131 229 4431
From their website:
Edinburgh Books has been a landmark for book lovers for more than twenty years. Formerly known as West Port Books, it was saved by the skin of its teeth from becoming yet another café in 2006.
This off-beat Edinburgh bookshop has a huge, wide-ranging stock of second-hand and antiquarian books: just when you think you’ve scanned every shelf you find the stairs and realize there are four rooms in the basement. For the reader, there is a large stock of fiction and non-fiction; for the collector, a sizeable number of intriguing titles.
The atmosphere in this second-hand Edinburgh bookshop tends towards the dog-eared and slightly foxed, but glimpses of rarity and respectability can be encountered if you look hard enough. Clarence the water buffalo keeps a beady eye on proceedings aided by Graham, the rather stuck-up grouse.
One basement room is rented by Alba Musick of Glasgow and is full of sheet music.
GINGER & PICKLES CHILDREN’S BOOKSHOP
51 St Stephen Street
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH3 5AH
+44 (0)131 285 8069
From their website:
Ginger and Pickles is an independent bookshop for children. The shop is both cosy and quaint, designed especially with young readers in mind, and is located on St Stephen Street in the Edinburgh neighbourhood of Stockbridge.
Our collections range from baby to young adult. We have dedicated a small section for parents and carry an array of stationery to meet the needs of aspiring writers and illustrators.
GOLDEN HARE BOOKS
68 St Stephen Street
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH3 5AQ
+44 (0)131 225 7755
From their website:
Our charming independent bookshop is situated in Edinburgh’s Stockbridge, where you can find an ever-changing collection of fiction and non-fiction for readers of all ages. We hold close to 2000 titles covering all genres of writing from cookery to travel, kid’s picture books to science fiction – and many more in between.
Our PostBooks subscription is characterised by unusual titles that you may not have encountered before, and supporting small presses or indie publishers where possible. We also choose a different theme each month, such as Green Transformation, Borders, or New Horizons – to name a few.
LIGHTHOUSE BOOKSHOP
43-45 West Nicolson Street
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH8 9DB
+44 (0)131 662 9112
From their website:
Lighthouse is a queer-owned and woman led independent community bookshop. We are an unapologetically activist, intersectional, feminist, antiracist, lgbtq+ community space. We house 10,000 titles across most genres, from politics, history, fiction and travel writing to Children’s books, crafts and cookery. We are particularly passionate about radical, left-wing and Scottish politics, intersectional feminism, revolutionary history, environmentalism, LGBT+ writing, poetry and translated fiction.
MAIN POINT BOOKS
77 Bread Street
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH3 9AH
+44 (0)131 228 4837
From their website:
Main Point Books stands up for print. Seek us out at 77 Bread Street in Edinburgh’s once-notorious West Port, now known as Edinburgh’s ‘book quarter’. Where murderers Burke and Hare once pounced, barrel-built bouncers outside the scattering of lap-dancing clubs are known to burst into operatic arias. Here, the daily faithful thread their way to the Church of the Sacred Heart, while through this territory of saints and sinners, book lovers tread their own paths of pursuit and epiphany, in and out of the Westport’s five secondhand bookshops.
Main Point Books hails book buyers with immoderate delight and also welcomes those who merely wish to browse our laden shelves, though talk of downsizing, Fengshui, and baggage allowances is not encouraged on the premises. Although erratic on many fronts, including opening hours (which can be described as sufficient), we are always interested in looking out for your elusive titles and always sell at reasonable prices. We maintain the proud Scottish tradition of bookselling with a frown. (If you don’t get the joke, perhaps this is not the bookshop for you.)
MCNAUGHTAN’S BOOKSHOP *also see Typewronger Books later in this post
3a & 4a Haddington Place
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH7 4AE
+44 (0)131 556 5897
From their website:
Established in 1957, McNaughtan’s is the oldest second-hand and antiquarian bookshop in Scotland, and the only open shop in Edinburgh to be a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association, the oldest trade body in the antiquarian book world. We buy and sell old and rare books, and our gallery hosts Typewronger Books, offering new books and secondhand typewriters.
The premises are two of the ‘laigh’ (or low) shops in an 1825 Edinburgh New Town tenement building, designed by Robert Brown (who also assisted Robert Reid with the Signet Library), and Grade A listed by Historic Scotland. The building is important as one of the few extant elements of a large estate plan by the descendants of John Hope, professor of Botany, for land that had formerly been part of the botanic gardens before their 1820 move to Inverleith. The plan was derailed by the ascendance of the West End as a more fashionable location and only numbers 1-8 of the Haddington Place buildings were completed.
As a basement premises in a listed building unfortunately we are unable to provide wheelchair access to the shop.
SCOTTISH STORYTELLING CENTRE BOOKSHOP – featured above
43-45 High Street
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH1 1SR
From their website:
Humans are hardwired to love stories and Scotland’s greatest stories have their own home, a Centre dedicated to preserving and recounting them so that future generations can enjoy these tales just as much as their forebears.
The Scottish Storytelling Centre turned 15 in 2021 and is a fantastic central venue on the Royal Mile, where it forms a bustling arts venue that celebrates the nation’s cultural heritage.
Live storytelling, theatre, dance and music will thrill visitors young and old, while an ever-changing roster of workshops and exhibitions beg repeat visits throughout the year.
The Centre is also the hub for the Scottish International Storytelling Festival, one of the 11 Edinburgh Festivals internationally recognised as a leader in its field.
THE EDINBURGH BOOKSHOP
219 Bruntsfield Place
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH10 4DH
+44 (0)131 447 1917
From their website:
Always happy to help and heavily powered by tea, biscuits, high fives, and dog cuddles!
THE PORTOBELLO BOOKSHOP
46 Portobello High Street
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH15 1DA
+44 (0)131 6296756
From their website:
The Portobello Bookshop is located in what was formerly a fishing tackle shop (Mike’s Tackle Shop) for 30 years, and before that was an old cooperative — something we discovered after removing the frontage of the tackle shop. Extensive renovations took place from January 2019 to June 2019, during which time we discovered the lovely columns that are now a staple of the shop’s interior, which were hiding beneath plasterboard walls. The aim was to create a warm, modern, open space that’s welcoming and pleasure to spend time browsing books in, and which allows us to host a great events programme. We opened in July 2019 and, whilst we our first couple of years were extremely different from what we’d anticipated, we’re glad to have made it through a global pandemic and are looking forward to many more years of bookselling.
We’re a general bookshop so stock all kinds of fiction and non-fiction. The Portobello Bookshop also offers a book subscription service. Fantastic new writing and curated gifts from indie brands, beautifully wrapped and delivered straight to your door each month.
TILLS BOOKSHOP
1 Hope Park Crescent
Newington
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH8 9NA
+44 (0)131 667 0895
From their website:
Established in 1985, Tills is one of Edinburgh’s oldest second-hand bookshops. It sits overlooking the Meadows, and has carved out a small literary corner in Edinburgh’s South Side. First opened by Rick and Ann Till, the shop was taken over in 2019 by Kate and Joshua McNamara.
A secondhand bookshop is a snapshot of what its community reads. We like to think of ourselves as a repository for old prints, beautiful lost editions, well-loved paperbacks, and cared-for classics. A place where books that may not be the current talk of the town can come to hide out for a bit until the world finally catches up with them again.
Almost all of what we sell comes from our community around Edinburgh. They’re a very bookish lot, and we have them to thank for our lovely stock of classics, poetry, literary fiction, and academic works.
We trade rare and antiquarian books through our website, auction houses and our network of collectors and antiquarian dealers. Our physical store in Edinburgh also stocks a small library of antiquarian gems, although we keep the majority of our rare books offsite.
TOPPING & COMPANY BOOKSELLERS OF EDINBURGH
2 Blenheim Place
Midlothian
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH7 5JH
+44 (0)131 546 4202
From their website:
Offering the following signed book subscription services: Signed Fiction Club, Signed Non-fiction Club, Signed Detective Fiction Club, Signed Fantasy Club.
Also offering the following collections of signed editions.
TRANSREAL FICTION
46 Candlemaker Row
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH1 2QE
+44 (0)131 226 6266
From their website:
Transreal Fiction is a shop dedicated to selling science fiction, fantasy & related books, together with a limited selection of other merchandise. But really, it’s about books. Transreal Fiction opened in April 1997 in Cowgatehead and moved to its present location nearby in June 2011. The owner, Mike Calder, first sold sf & f books many years ago and has worked in the business either part- or full-time since. For years he also had a respectable job as well, but that’s another story…
The shop is named after the term coined by Rudy Rucker to describe his fiction and I thought it an apt name for a shop specialising in speculative fiction. And, in case you’re wondering, yes, Rudy Rucker was happy to allow me to use of the term as a name for my shop.
TYPEWRONGER BOOKS
4a Haddington Place
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH7 4AE
+44 (0)131 556 5897
From their website:
Typewronger Books is Edinburgh’s smallest bookshop and Scotland’s only typewriter repair shop. We sell new books, independent publications, and zines. We are home to a small but beautiful community of readers, writers, artists, and musicians.
If you need to use a typewriter we have a 1914 Royal 10 on our main display desk that is for public use! We can provide you with paper or you can bring in your own. This machine is free to use. We have loaned typewriters to various events and film sets.
Yes, we do indeed repair mechanical typewriters. The shop is very busy selling books for most of the time, and we have a backlog of machines to work our way through. As a result we are only offering repair-whilst-you-wait services to new customers on an appointment only basis. We do not repair or service electric or electronic typewriters as we can’t afford the proper PAT testing equipment (it costs about a grand!) We’re happy to give free advice on these machines. We buy mechanical typewriters. When the planets align ever so nicely we occasionally have a machine available to sell.
WATERSTONES – four locations in Edinburgh, Scotland
West End Location:
128 Princes Street
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH2 4AD
+44 (0)131 226 2666
Cameron Toll Location:
Cameron Toll Centre
6 Lady Road
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH16 5PB
+44 (0)131 666 1866
Ocean Terminal Location:
98/99 Ocean Terminal
Ocean Drive
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH6 6JJ
+44 (0)131 554 7732
Fort Kinnaird Location:
31B Fort Kinnaird
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH15 3RD
+44 (0)131 344 4754
From their website:
Waterstones began in 1982 under the aegis of its founder, Tim Waterstone. Over the decades that have followed, we have grown to become an icon of the British cultural landscape, employing over 3000 superb booksellers across over 280 bookshops.
As the last surviving national bookshop chain, under the helmsmanship of Managing Director James Daunt, we are proud to have fought off the perceived threat of e-readers and online competition to begin a programme of active expansion. Recent years have seen fresh shops open around the country and sites either move or be upgraded. With recent openings including Reigate, Clifton and moves to far more attractive locations for our shops in Edinburgh and Manchester’s Trafford Centre, our plans continue to be ambitious.
Perhaps unusually for a national retailer, our branch managers enjoy a high degree of individual autonomy, running their shops to best please their local customers, with only the lightest of central suggested direction. We take enormous pleasure in championing simply good (but sometimes relatively overlooked) books, a principle that began most famously with John Williams’ Stoner, a quiet, intense novel that we turned into a bestseller forty years after its original publication.
