Sotheran's
 | |
| Industry | Retail |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1761 |
| Founder | Henry Sotheran |
| Headquarters | , UK |
| Website | Official website |
Sotheran's is a bookshop in London, England, claiming to be the oldest continuously operating bookshop in the United Kingdom and the oldest antiquarian bookshop in the world. It is located at 18 Upper Brook Street in the Mayfair area of London.
History
Founded in 1761 in York by Henry Sotheran, Sotheran's established a presence in London in 1815. In 1901, it was granted the Royal warrant of appointment as booksellers to King Edward VII.[1]
In 1892, Sotheran's managed to get Althorp’s complete library, including its very rare collection of Caxtons, for £250,000 (equivalent to almost £40 million today). In 1896, it sold to J. P. Morgan a Gutenberg Bible on vellum, for £2,750, and an even more expensive collection of Byron manuscripts.[1]
From 1936 to 2024, the shop was located at 2-5 Sackville Street, London.
English bookseller and Charles Dickens scholar John Harrison Stonehouse joined the firm as an apprentice in 1884. He ultimately became the managing director through his skills of literacy, invention, and marketing.[2][3][4][5] Under his direction, Sotheran's ordered several significant bindings and fore-edge paintings from renowned binders, including finely painted 'Cosway' bindings.[6] In 1909, Stonehouse commissioned the bookbinders Sangorski & Sutcliffe to produce the famous jewelled copy of Edward FitzGerald's The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, lost with the Titanic in 1912.[7][8]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Sotheran's: 250 Years of Bookselling". ILAB - FR. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
- ^ Herrmann, Frank (2012). "Review of Bookmen: London. 250 Years of Sotheran bookselling". The British Art Journal. 13 (2): 102–103. ISSN 1467-2006. JSTOR 43490556.
- ^ Darkshire, Oliver (2023). "1. Introduction: the bookseller's apprentice". Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller. Liveright Publishing. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-324-09208-7.
- ^ Feay, Suzi (28 September 2022). "Once Upon a Tome by Oliver Darkshire — in search of literary gold dust". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 23 June 2023. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
- ^ Roberts, William (1895). The Book-hunter in London: Historical and Other Studies of Collectors and Collecting. A.C. McClurg. p. 233.
- ^ Fore-edge Paintings at Syracuse University. 1992.
- ^ Gray, Victor (2011). Bookmen, London: 250 years of Sotheran bookselling. London: H. Sotheran. pp. 204–205, 212–214. ISBN 978-0-9508219-6-2.
- ^ Kennedy, Maev; arts; correspondent, heritage (2005-07-07). "Legendary book goes to British Library". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
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