Hatchards Bookshop

I love books. I eat books (not literally, of course), which is why i experience an unstoppable gravitational pull, whenever i walk past a good bookshop - i only feel a slight twitch with the bigger chains! With a spare 20 minutes before meeting friends, i allowed myself to be pulled into one of my faves, Hatchards, on Piccadilly. This is the oldest surviving bookshop in London and a great place to lose yourself in a world of imagination.

Now, I know you should never judge a book by its cover, but i'm a sucker for the cloth bound Penguin classics. These stunning covers are the designs of Coralie Bickford-Smith and they literally make my heart ache. I am in the process of collecting one at a time, a painful process when it comes to choosing which one...

After 20 mins of what was turning out to be some kind of book porn, i was running late. I should have averted my eyes and marched to the door. But noooo! I was instead enticed by a display of Barnes and Noble big, heavy, leather bound classics. Now these are something special. The cover designs, the inner co-ord prints, the gold edged pages...i was in heaven! 'Looking at book covers' is not a good excuse for being late...trust me!