A London Gem for Classicists

[Raya]

Unsworths Booksellers at 12 Bloomsbury St - if you're ever in London, this is *THE* bookstore to check out!

I wandered in, rather by accident, a few days ago - was heading back from the British Museum when I lost my way and pulled into the nearest shop to escape the cold. (I'm sure the Canadians here will be laughing at what I call cold weather, but after Mauritius, English winter is **freezing**.)

You can imagine my delight when I was greeted with signs pointing out the Classics sections - not just the fact that they HAD a Classics section, but the signs were written in Latin and ancient Greek!

They stock the widest range of classical books I've seen outside an Oxford library: new publications (texts and scholarly materials), older secondhand books (not necessarily cheap, but reasonably-priced), and downstairs they have old stuff (as in, centuries-old rare and valuable books).

Speaking of which I fell in love with this gorgeous 3-volume set of Pindar's poems - small books that could easily fit in your pocket - bound in blue-green embossed leather with gilded page-edges, published in 1754 and selling for about £900 (roughly US $1700)...

As far as purchases I actually made... for the most part, just texts which I needed for my course: Xenophon's Memorabilia and Cyropaedia (Teubner editions) and a few Aristophanian comedies (assorted editions). But at least I know where to go now, when I come back to London for university....

[Keesa]

You are making me jealous. I"m sure if I could see it right now, my face would be the same color as Textkit.

[Raya]

You must come up to England someday!

Incidentally, there's also an Oxford branch of Unsworths...

[Episcopus]

Sweet Did they have any D'Ooge? A D'Ooge section?

I'm glad to see you posting here again, let's hope it is regularlyer

[Raya]

Hehe... no D'Ooge section that I'm aware of, but they did have grammars and such. I must confess I didn't notice if they had D'Ooge, as I was looking more at the Greek than Latin stuff...

[whiteoctave]

I am yet to see second-hand Classics sections that beat David's, Cambridge or The Carnforth Bookshop, Carnforth, Lancashire.

Thanks for the London gem though,

~dave

[Raya]

You'd know better than me, Dave - I'm only in England for a month's vacation... and this is the first bookstore of this type I've ever come across, anywhere in the world.

[Episcopus]

I'm a bookstore virgin.

[whiteoctave]

re: Raya:"But at least I know where to go now, when I come back to London for university.... " (yes, i could use that 'quote' button...)

Are you to attend a London University, Raya, to read Classics?

~dave

[Raya]

Yes... it seems Oxford and I don't mix, so it's Philosophy and Classical Greek at UCL for me...

[Episcopus]

I wonder if there are any persons there not having come from a northern English grammar school Ac Mauritius longe abest

Personally I would have preferred that school which was 80% female!

Anyway that's another discussion. I can't wait for my first classics bookshop experience. This is because here, classics are dead> In northern England it may still be alive but in Wales we have the people focusing on the welsh being forced into us but rejected like a bad kidney.
It will be so foreign and such an unprecedented experience for me.
I can picture myself running around knocking all the shelves down searching for the non existent Latin For Beginnerskey. Only joking the exercises are easy.

[Emma_85]

I'm sure you'll just love that course, philosophy is really interesting .