Three bookshops and a partridge in a pear tree

Within and beyond London’s Piccadilly, the Christmas lights are already blazing. Determined, however, not to succumb to the siren calls of Selfridges’ Disney-themed window displays or New Bond Street’s bejewelled flagship stores or the festive flights of fancy shooting above Regent and Oxford streets or through Burlington and Piccadilly arcades, I seek out the relative tranquillity offered by Piccadilly’s three bookshops. Two are old friends; one is a new acquaintance…

Maison Assouline London

196A Piccadilly

Although Assouline opened its London flagship store — billed as a “luxury concept bookstore and cultural hub” — in Piccadilly in 2014, this is my first visit. Housed in a Grade II-listed 1922 former banking hall designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, Maison Assouline’s main drawcard is ostensibly its curated selection of popular luxury coffee table books, published by Assouline.

Feeling I should be wearing white gloves, I carefully leaf through titles such as Chanel: The Legend of an Icon, James Bond Destinations and the Ultimate Collection: Versailles. Any one of which would exceed my credit card limit and luggage allowance. But it’s also difficult not to be distracted by the similarly luxurious art gallery, cafe, cocktail bar, museum and overall gorgeous interior design. Not for nothing is London’s Maison Assouline known as one of the world’s most beautiful book cafes. I’m tempted to indulge in a cocktail. Until I see the prices.

ap.assouline.com/pages/maison-assouline

Waterstones Piccadilly

203/206 Piccadilly

Maison Assouline might be one of the world’s most beautiful book cafes but Waterstones Piccadilly is one of the biggest — in fact it’s the largest in Europe. Six floors of bibliophilic paradise, with archipelagos of book-laden tables floating amid shelves and shelves of dreams – oh, and it has three cafes, one of which doubles as a bar.

Originally Simpson’s menswear store, this art deco beauty opened in 1936, designed by Joseph Emberton with interiors by Bauhaus legend Laszlo Moholy-Nagy — hence the curved glass windows, classy handrails and 90-foot chromium light fitting.

I must confess to being a little bit obsessed with the Waterstones chain, to the extent that no matter where else in the UK I subsequently found myself, I made visiting the local branch a priority: Cambridge, Birmingham, Carlisle, Glasgow and other parts of London, including Bloomsbury, Fitzrovia and Covent Garden.

waterstones.com/bookshops/piccadilly

Hatchards

187 Piccadilly

If Maison Assouline is the most beautiful and Waterstones the biggest, Hatchards is the oldest bookstore in the UK, having been founded by anti-slavery campaigner John Hatchard in 1797. In 1801 it moved to its current location next door to Fortnum & Mason — thus presenting a potent opportunity for shoppers to satisfy both the intellect and the stomach in fine style.

One can only wonder at the quality of the merchandise Hatchard obtained from Simon Vandenbergh to form the basis of the store’s original stock. I do know that Lord Byron, Oscar Wilde, Aldous Huxley, Beatrix Potter and many other literary luminaries have trod the creaky floorboards and climbed the rickety stairs over the years.

Just as I do now, to marvel again at the volumes of classics and poetry, their differently coloured spines collectively giving the impression of vertical formal gardens. Apart from a Rare Books & First Editions department, another of Hatchards’ many curiosities is the Royal Warrant it has from King Charles III, as it did from Elizabeth II and Prince Philip before him. So you never know who you may bump into there…

hatchards.co.uk