Edinburgh has produced and inspired some of the UK’s best-known writers. Trade at cafes such as The Elephant House went through the roof when people found out J K Rowling sat at its tables to write the first Harry Potter novel. Fans pay an exorbitant amount to stay at the suite at the Balmoral Hotel where she finished the last one.
Crime writer Ian Rankin lived and taught there and his fictional detective John Rebus runs around Edinburgh’s streets in most of his books. The city’s train station honours novelist Sir Walter Scott, as does the Scott Monument in the city centre.
Fittingly, Edinburgh is also home to some excellent second-hand bookshops. Visiting such stores isn’t about buying books, after all there’s never a guarantee you’ll find what you’re looking for. Finding something you want or like is both a bonus and an accomplishment.
Second-hand bookshops aren’t for browsing. They are for exploring.
Rummaging through their offerings, enjoying the randomness, oddities and quirks of the various stores. The stores usually have equally quirky owners such as the guy using duct tape to hold his glasses together in the centre, or the serious older man (in a store that shall remain nameless) that practically rolls his eyes when I hand him an Agatha Christie to pay for.
But most of all it’s about being in the presence of lots of lovely, beautiful old books.
My favourite of Edinburgh’s second-hand bookstores:
Edinburgh Books, 145-147 West Port
Old Town Bookshop, 8 Victoria St
Armchair Books, 72-74 West Port
Peter Bell Books, 68 West Port
Main Point Book, 8 Lauriston St
