#i only know. waterstones. i’ve been to the uk three times (one edinburgh

[blondephil]

i am not british (or scottish) you’re telling me there’s a bookstore called TOPPING?

[terselylove]

9 Bookshops in Edinburgh You Need to Visit

There were two reasons for my recent trip to Edinburgh: bookshops and Harry Potter. Edinburgh is known as one of the top literary cities in the UK and is teeming with independent bookshops.

This city is an absolute haven for book lovers with many literary giants living and writing here. In fact, Edinburgh was the first city to be named a UNESCO City of Literature in 2004.

Before my trip, I had all the best Edinburgh bookshops mapped out on Google maps and couldn’t wait to actually see these shops I’d dreamed about in person. The number one bookshop in Edinburgh on my list was Golden Hare Books. I’d seen this on @gisforgeorgina‘s Instagram page and knew it had won awards so I was desperate to see it myself!

Without further ado, here’s my guide to the best bookshops in Edinburgh:

Armchair Books

Armchair Books is hands down my favourite bookshop in Edinburgh. Indeed, it is one of my favourite secondhand bookshops of all time! I actually visited Armchair Books more than once during my trip to Edinburgh, the first time by myself on an early morning wander. The second as I shoved a friend through the door, insisting she needed to see it.

It’s a winding little shop with floor to ceiling bookshelves that are jam-packed with secondhand reads. As soon as you enter, you’re met with the smell of old books and brown pages. It’s a smell that instantly makes a bookworm feel at home.

There are multiple copies of some of the most popular releases from the past few decades so it’s a great place to pick up a second-hand edition of something you’ve had your eye on for a while. There are, of course, also lots of classics and every other genre you can think of.

They’re currently delivering to Edinburgh locals by bike and you can find out more about this on their website here. If you’re not based in Edinburgh, you can support them via AbeBooks here.

For even more second-hand books, you can pop into Peter Bell Books next door, which specialises in antiquarian Scottish interest books, as well as history and philosophy books.

Address: 72-74 West Port, EH1 2LE

Opening Hours: 10am – 6:30pm every day

Website: www.armchairbooks.co.uk

Topping & Company

I was familiar with Topping & Company bookshops from a previous visit to Bath and was excited to discover that their newest branch opened in Edinburgh in 2019.

RELATED: A Guide to Bookshops in Bath

This new branch is enormous and holds around 70,000 titles over two floors. In fact, the Topping family have boasted that this is the largest independent bookshop to open in the country for decades!

It’s a beautiful, well-lit space with tall windows letting plenty of light into the store. Of course, they’ve got their signature ladders resting against the bookshelves so you can reach those on the top shelves too. Aesthetic and practical, a book lover’s dream.

The absolute best thing about this bookshop, however, is the fact that they offer free tea for their customers to enjoy along with their new reads. There are small round tables dotted around the store and you can enjoy a pot of freshly brewed tea here in an adorable navy and polka-dot teapot.

Address: 2 Blenheim Place, EH7 5JH

Opening Hours: 9am – 8:30pm every day

Website: www.toppingbooks.co.uk

Golden Hare Books

I have a confession.

The first time I stepped into Golden Hare Books, I was met with a feeling of… disappointment.

It was the bookshop in Edinburgh I’d heard the most about and seen people rave about but upon stepping over the threshold it just seemed rather sparse inside. It wasn’t the bookshop I had imagined it would be in my head.

BUT!

(A big but)

I began looking around the shelves to see what type of books they had on offer. And I found myself moving more and more slowly around the shop. I was completely absorbed by each book I picked up and I wanted to take them all home with me!

Then I understood why this bookshop is so magical and I was very sorry to have misjudged it. Golden Hare Books is an incredibly well-curated bookshop, in fact, I’d even go so far as to say this is one of the most well-curated bookshops I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting. It’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into which books they choose to stock on their shelves and they only have the very best recent releases.

I ended up leaving with two books I’d never heard of prior to visiting but was sure I’d enjoy: Territory of Light by Yūko Tsushima and In The City of Love’s Sleep by Lavinia Greenway.

I was further stopped on my way out of the shop by the little row of books outside the store – I really didn’t want to leave!

Golden Hare Books is located in Stockbridge, so it’s a little out of the way compared to the other bookshops on this list but no visit to Edinburgh is complete without a spin round this lovely bookshop.

This bookshop in Edinburgh won Independent Bookshop of the Year in 2019, beating all other bookshops in the UK and Ireland, and it’s a very well deserved title.

Address: 68  St Stephen Street, EH3 5AQ

Opening Hours: 10am – 6pm every day

Website: goldenharebooks.com

Blackwell’s Bookshop

Blackwell’s has long been a favourite of mine, with its flagship bookshop in Oxford proudly boasting the largest bookselling room in the world. The Edinburgh bookshop holds a title of its own as Edinburgh’s oldest independent bookshop.

RELATED: A Guide to Bookshops in Oxford

Blackwell’s is a great place to look for new releases as soon as they come out as well as book-related merchandise and stationery. Of course, there’s a large Harry Potter section in this Edinburgh bookshop with many different editions and other magical merchandise for Harry Potter fans in Edinburgh.

As well as a huge selection of new books, they’ve got dedicated shelves for different collections of old classics. From Penguin Clothbounds to Everyman’s Library to Macmillan Collector’s Library, they’ve got all the most beautiful editions.

And did you know that Blackwell’s offer free UK delivery? It’s a great place to order from if you’re shopping online!

Address: 53-62 South Bridge, EH1 1YS

Opening Hours: 9am – 8pm every day, 12pm – 6pm Sunday

Website: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop (FREE UK delivery!)

Transreal

Transreal is a bookshop I stumbled upon completely by accident when seeking out Harry Potter in Edinburgh. It’s located on the same road that you’ll find Greyfriars Kirkyard, aka the Harry Potter graveyard. And it’s an appropriate place for such a bookshop too as Transreal specialises in sci-fi and fantasy fiction.

RELATED: Harry Potter Graveyard in Edinburgh

I’m a huge fan of fantasy literature so I was incredibly excited to discover this hidden gem in Edinburgh. As well as the classics you’d expect like the works by George R R Martin, J R R Tolkien and Brandon Sanderson, they also stock lots of sci-fi and fantasy fiction that you won’t find on the shelves of your local Waterstones.

There are many authors here published by book publishers that don’t operate in the UK and it was a pleasure to explore these unfamiliar titles. In fact, it’s been said that Transreal has the biggest range of imported science fiction and fantasy titles in Scotland!

Address: 46 Candlemaker Row, EH1 2QE

Opening Hours: 11am – 6pm (Tuesday – Saturday)

Website: transreal.wordpress.com

McNaughton’s

McNaughton’s is an absolutely beautiful, quaint bookshop in Edinburgh that is filled with antiquarian and second-hand books. In fact, it is the oldest second-hand and antiquarian bookshop in Scotland! Its interiors are thoroughly charming with neatly stacked books from floor to ceiling and even around the door frames.

They stock a wide variety of genres from literature to childrens, religion or philosophy. The most popular of these is literature and they have a huge range of old classics and poetry books on offer. This is the perfect place to shop for old books as gifts or to form part of your home library collection.

As soon as you walk in, you smell the scent of old books so book lovers may want to stay awhile. Fortunately, there’s a lovely window seat in which you can sit as you peruse some titles you may want to add to your collection.

McNaughton’s Bookshop & Gallery is right around the corner from the new Toppings & Company and is attached to Typewronger Books (below) so a trip to all three shops should be combined. The shop is currently closed but they are open to orders and offer free UK postage.

Address: 3a, 4a Haddington Place, EH7 4AE

Opening Hours: 11am – 5pm (Tuesday – Saturday)

Website: mcnaughtans.co.uk

Typewronger Books

Attached to McNaughton’s Bookshop & Gallery is Typewronger Books, a bookshop with a very different vibe. They sell both book and typewriters, which make for the perfect combination. Isn’t it every writer’s dream to have a vintage typewriter?

It’s a small shop but it has such character and I loved the atmosphere. Music played softly on vinyl and the owner, Tom, is laughing with customers as he puts their order through. They chitchat about the Extinction Rebellion and angry London commuters and I, often an angry London commuter, silently laugh with them as I browse. There’s often tea (and sometimes wine!) on offer to browsers and it’s open until 9pm so people have time to pop by after work.

The books are all carefully selected by the owner so there’s a small but well-curated assortment of books in all genres. It’s not the kind of place you come to pick up a specific edition but rather to browse, to run your fingers along the shelves, to have a bookish chat and pick up something unexpected.

Typewronger is the only typewriter shop in Edinburgh so it’s a must-visit if you’re looking to invest in one. There’s even a Tweetwronger typewriter machine that is connected to Twitter. All you have to do it tweet @tweetwronger and use the hashtag #typethis – how cool is that?

If you live in Edinburgh there’s free postage/delivery to residents and reduced delivery costs to the rest of the UK.

Address: 4a Haddington Place, EH7 4AE

Opening Hours: 11am – 9pm every day

Website: www.typewronger.com

Edinburgh Books

If you love second-hand books then Edinburgh Books is a must-visit. It’s the largest secondhand bookshop in Edinburgh and has been in operation for decades.

The shelves here are positively stuffed to the brim with books stacked both vertically and horizontally to fill every space. There’s even a large basement with even more rooms full of books. You could get lost amongst these shelves for hours at a time as they stock just about every genre under the sun. The copies they stock are sometimes quite well-used (well-loved!) but I love finding old copies and wondering what their history is.

Edinburgh Books’ list of accolades are a testament to how well-loved this bookshop as it was crowned Scottish Independent Bookshop of the year in 2018 at the British Bookseller Awards. It was also shortlisted for Children’s Bookshop in 2018 and UK Independent Bookshop in 2018.

It’s located along the same road as Armchair Books as you walk out of the centre of the city so make sure to add both to your agenda.

Oh and don’t be alarmed by Clarence, the large water buffalo head who watches you as you shop. There are plenty of fun rumours about him so be sure to ask the owners more.

Address: 145-147, West Port, Edinburgh EH3 9DP

Opening Hours: 10am – 6pm every day (closed Sundays)

Website: edinburghbooks.net

John Kay’s

Formerly The Old Town Bookshop, John Kay’s sit on the edge of Edinburgh’s most colourful and most iconic street, Victoria Street. This street has often been cited as the inspiration for Diagon Alley and you can see why.

With cobbled paving beneath your feet, you could believe you were shopping for wizard’s wares as you you look through the windows of these tall, colourful and mostly independent stores. In fact, some believe that the Old Town Bookshop was the original inspiration for Flourish and Blotts with its floor to ceiling bookshelves.

Today, John Kay’s stocks a curated assortment of items for book lovers & antique aficionados alike. There’s a small selection of rare books as well as some beautiful editions of well-loved classics. With miniature planes hanging from the ceiling and globes hanging from the bookshelves, the shop looks a little like an old explorer’s private collection. It’s a great shop to pick up a quirky gift, bookish or otherwise!

Address: 8 Victoria Street, EH1 2HG

Opening Hours: 10am – 6/7pm every day

That concludes my guide to bookshops in Edinburgh! There are many, many more that I, unfortunately, wasn’t able to explore so here are some further suggestions:

Other Edinburgh bookshops

The Portobello Bookshop

Tills Bookshop

Lighthouse Books

The Edinburgh Bookshop

The Bookworm Bookstore

Main Point Books

Amnesty International Books

Cornerstone Bookshop

[ishouldreadthat]

For YALC this year, I thought I’d do something a little different from my standard book haul or uninteresting list.  Behold, The YALC Diaries! Although I’m beginning this post after Friday’s festivities have come to an end, I’m planning to write this up as a play-by-play of my favourite book event. Here we go!

  YALC Eve

I was really nervous about YALC because I didn’t want it to be a repeat of 2017.  Last year, I was so incredibly shy that I only spoke to the three people I knew well, all of whom were pals from Edinburgh rather than my little group of online bookish pals.  I desperately wanted to meet people, but I wasn’t really active on Twitter at that point and just didn’t feel comfortable walking up to strangers and saying hi. This year, I wanted that to change — and it did!

My first stop on Thursday was to Forbidden Planet, which I had never been to before, for a pre-YALC book signing.  I ended up purchasing Sweet Black Waves, a Tristan and Isolde retelling written by a medievalist (who is the coolest thing, by the way), I Am Traitor by Sif Sigmarsdóttir, an Icelandic author who was so incredibly kind and lovely, and The Loneliness of Distant Beings by Kate Ling.  I ended up with signed copies of all three, two of which were personalised (I didn’t even realise Kate Ling was standing next to me at the time –oops!).

I also happened to meet Jenn, the fabulous blogger and owner of Literary Galaxy, and her boyfriend Jordan.  She’s someone who I’ve been chatting with for ages, so it was amazing to meet her in person!

  Thursday haul:

Sweet Black Waves by Kristina Perez

I Am Traitor by Sif Sigmarsdóttir

The Loneliness of Distant Beings by Kate Ling

      Day One

I couldn’t resist

The first day of YALC is my favourite.  I scope out the publisher stalls, have a wander, (hopefully) see some people I know, and figure out what the plans for the day are.  I find that you can spend the weeks before YALC planning what you’re going to do, but there’s no way to account for everything.  Plus, publishers have stock of everything on the first day, so I always shop for the books I desperately want to buy.  Friday is the best book buying day of YALC!

I spent the majority of the morning checking out the stands and the giveaways.  Last year’s proof and ARC drops were insane, so it was really nice to hear that publishers were doing fairer book distribution via giveaways, raffles, lucky dips, and gift with purchase.  I actually ended up landing my second most desired proof, Girls of Paper and Fire, from the Hodderscape stand. They were giving them away when you bought two books!  I am so incredibly excited to have my paws on this beautiful book — I’ve been eyeing it ever since the cover and synopsis were revealed.  My first proof was one of the best!

Next, after trying Gollancz’s lucky dip to win a copy of The Girl King (this was a theme throughout the day — I attempted five times and didn’t win!) with Jenn, I bumped into my friend Nikki, who revealed that the Sourcebooks stand was giving away copies of Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix, a book I had no idea would be at YALC and is one of my most anticipated releases of the year.  You can only imagine how fast I ran to I bolted and managed to get a copy with my purchase of Roar and Bruja Born.

The rest of the day was filled with proof drops (I managed to snag a copy of Damsel by Elana K. Arnold, which sounds amazing), signings, raffles (for Lifelik3 and Vox, neither of which I won so I bought copies), more book buying, and meeting or reuniting with amazing bloggers and bookish people!  It was a really fantastic day. As I was leaving, it actually began raining! This may not sound too exciting but I swear I hadn’t seen rain in months at that point, despite living in the UK. We got about an hour of thunder, lightning, and pouring rain, all of which occurred as I was holed up in my sister’s flat admiring my books — bliss.

  Friday haul:

Vox by Christina Dalcher

The Book of M by Peng Shepherd

Hunted by Meghan Spooner

All the Ever Afters by Danielle Teller

Bruja Born by Zoraida Córdova

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix by Julie C. Dao

Damsel by Elena K. Arnold

Roar by Cora Carmack

Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

Lifelik3 by Jay Kristoff

  Day Two

  Saturday is notoriously the busiest day of YALC.  It’s the day that the major signings take place and the day that most people are able to attend.  Put those together and you have absolute madness. Fortunately I had Scottish Fiance with me, who got to experience YALC for the first time.

This was the day that I acquired the fewest books and got the most copies signed.  The first queue I waited in was for Frances Hardinge, who is one of my favourite authors despite the fact that I’ve only read one of her books.  We went to her panel and then she signed my beautiful illustrated copy of The Lie Tree (and drew a goose!). Next was some more giveaway attempts (all failed — curses!), followed by Samantha Shannon’s signing.  I was lucky enough to get a good spot in line because the queue was cut off! See other people’s posts for a much better breakdown of the poor queuing system — it was so disappointing.  Being in Samantha Shannon’s line did mean that I couldn’t try to queue for Tomi Adeyemi, which was a major disappointment, but I honestly think I wouldn’t have made it into her queue anyway.  There were over 300 people trying and I was having lunch when it started.  Priorities.

I did manage to get books signed by Kiran Millwood Hargreave, Tom Pollock, Lauren E. James, and Melinda Salisbury (points to Scottish Fiance for chasing her halfway across YALC when I froze and refused to go up to her).

The rest of the day was spent meeting friends like Julia from JuliasBookcase, Jess from ReadbyJess, Vanessa from VanessaKPhan, Helen from WatchingSparks, and many more!  A few of us even got a photo together:

  Most of the day was spent in queues, so there’s not much to report in terms of new books, but I did pick up five new books and got five signed.

  Book haul:

After the Fire by Will Hill

The Red Ribbon by Lucy Adlington

The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon

The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

We See Everything by William Sutcliffe

  Day Three

I nearly missed the third day of YALC!  There were public transit issues (which I discovered as I was on public transit, funny enough), road closures across London, and rude men (well, one rude man).  I actually gave up on trying to go and tearfully went back to my sister’s place. Author Sister and Scottish Fiance sat me down, put a duvet on me, gave me a cup of tea, and let me calm down.  After an hour or so, I mapped out a slightly complex route and hit the road. I ended up making it to YALC about two hours late, and I’m so glad I went. I love Friday’s at YALC, but Sunday was easily the best day this year.

I immediately hopped into Muhammad Khan’s signing queue — I Am Thunder was an eye-opening and wonderful book that I absolutely loved.  I met him, had a really lovely chat (he remembers me from Twitter!) and got my copy signed. After that, I went to check out what books the publishers had left on their stands.  I ended up at the Waterstones stand with Jenn and got some amazing book recommendations from Alwyn Hamilton and Laure Eve and had a fantastic chat with the two of them. I bought some books, then continued to wander around and bought some more.  I hit up the Geeky Clean stand and bought one of their NPC Crates, which I absolutely love, as well as a lovely jewelry stand.  I also managed to finally win a proof copy of Beneath the Citadel on my third attempt (!!).

After hanging out with pals for a little while longer, the day was coming to a close.  I entered a Twitter contest for one last proof and then I went down to London Film and Comic Con.  I had a wander to find an artist stand for my pal Asha. It turns out that their artwork was so amazing, I bought a print for myself and plan to get some more!  I also bought a llama because I couldn’t resist this face:

Meet Clive the Book Llama

  As I was heading out, I got a notification that I won a copy of The Familiars in the Twitter contest!  I got lost trying to get back up to YALC but made it back in the end and picked up my copy. I said goodbye to friends and headed to the train station (I ended up at the wrong bus stop and had to be directed to the right one by the marvelous Alwyn, she really saved the day).  Scottish Fiance and I met up at the station and headed home, weighed down by exhaustion and over 40 books.

  Book haul:

Beneath the Citadel by Destiny Soria

The Familiars by Stacey halls

Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes

Chasing the Stars by Malorie Blackman

Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge

Show Stopper by Hayley Barker

The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson

  Final non-proof book count

  Final proof count

Books from home that got signed!

I’m so incredibly happy I got a chance to go to YALC all three days.  Thank you to everyone I met and hung out with — you were all so welcoming and wonderful.  It certainly wasn’t perfect and there’s a lot of room for improvement — I highly encourage you to reach out to Showmasters if you had any issues — however I still ended up having a really great time.  I cannot wait until next year!

  Bonus: Jason Momoa kept walking through YALC because the green room for LFCC is up with us (or he has a secret passion for YA literature.  It really could be either).  He was our mascot this year.

  Did you go to YALC this year?  Did you pick up anything good? Did you have a good time?  Let me know!

My #YALC roundup is finally up on the blog! The YALC Diaries #bookblogger For YALC this year, I thought I’d do something a little different from my standard book haul or uninteresting list.