Spooky Books

Booksellers of the Uncanny, established sometime before living memory.

There is a shop on a street that does not appear on any reliable map, and it deals in nothing but books that unsettle. Not horror for its own sake — we have little patience for a book that only wishes to startle you and then apologise. What we keep on these shelves are volumes that linger: almanacs that know too much, correspondence that outlived its correspondents, sheet music written for audiences who are, strictly speaking, no longer in a position to attend a concert.

Most of our stock arrives the way such things always do — from estate sales nobody wanted to run twice, from church basements, from the libraries of collectors who left rather more suddenly than their insurers expected. Every volume is catalogued, every provenance noted where it can safely be discussed at all.

Begin with the catalogue, where this season's acquisitions are described in full. Those curious about who keeps this shop, and why, may prefer to read a few words concerning the proprietor first. Those ready to make an inquiry should consult our terms of correspondence before writing.