Persephone Books, Bath

On my March trip to Bath I made sure to pop into Persephone Books at 8 Edgware Buildings, not far from the centre of the city. I’d vaguely heard of it before but hadn’t thought to look into actually going there until we went to visit the Royal Crescent on this trip (a later post) and I noted the bookshop was on the way. They reprint fiction and non-fiction, mostly by women, that has been neglected and would be out of print otherwise.

Founded first as a mail order publisher in 1999 their first shop was in London and then that shop closed and they moved to Bath in 2021. I didn’t take any pictures inside because it is a small shop and it was actually very busy, but my friend and I both liked how comfortable it felt. Each of the books are printed with grey jackets and a patterned endpaper (a matching bookmark comes with your purchase).

At the time of writing all grey edition books (they do sell some others) are £15 or £40 for three. I bought two grey editions as well as A Diary of a Provincial Bookshop – a diary of one year in the shop’s life (2023). The grey editions I bought were The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, an American thriller first published in 1947 and The Exiles Return by Elisabeth de Wall set in occupied Vienna in 1954 and highly autobiographical. A donation is made to the Refugee Centre with each copy sold. Her grandson, who has written an introduction to the book, is Edmund de Waal whose book The Hare with Amber Eyes I adore.

You can order all their books from their website if you can’t make it to Bath, but if you can its a lovely building through which to rediscover forgotten authors.