Hatchards is London’s oldest bookshop, established in 1797. They’ve occupied the same building on 187 Picadilly for over two centuries, catering to royal households of Britain and europe as well as strange Swedish authors.

This was the bookshop where I first came across these lovely editions from Perspephone (see image), a publisher which reprints “neglected fiction and non-fiction by mid-twentieth century (mostly) women writers” – and not only reprints them, but reprints them in these beautiful, classically grey editions. Who came up with the idea of having most of the books grey, and then breaking off every now and then with an image? I bought Mrs Pettigrew lives for a day, and it’s a warm, charming, great book. I read it when I came home that same evening; a perfect way to spend hours in bed doing nothing.

Bookseller’s recommendation: The Bees

Bonus book-that-doesn’t-count-at-all-because-it’s-more-of-a-pamphlet: The Unknown Unknown – bookshops and the delight of not getting what you wanted