Ever wondered how you might have found it living in a different time period? I have. I’ve been thinking about the Bloomsbury Set: ideas and attitudes colliding in a group of artists, intellectuals and writers who lived and worked in Bloomsbury in the first half of the twentieth century. How nice to have had such a significant impact on literature and economics.
This train of thought followed a few hours strolling around Bloomsbury on a beautiful sunny day, taking in Persephone Books, the London Review Bookshop and a pot of loose leaf tea at Tea & Tattle, all of which left me feeling generally rather literary and somewhat Bohemian.
Persephone is a wonder, reprinting neglected fiction and non-fiction by mostly female writers. The packaging is simple and stunning; each reprint has a dove grey jacket and unique textile-inspired endpaper. There’s a matching bookmark to accompany each purchase. It’s a calming experience to browse the thoughtfully selected titles, as you’ll see from the images below.*
Visit the website to get lots more info on what Persephone is all about and how to order online. But I urge you to make time for a trip to Lamb’s Conduit Street and the surrounding network of streets. It’ll be good for your writing soul.
* This might be a good moment to mention it was during my Persephone visit that I blew my ‘£25 spend on books in 2014‘ rule entirely out of the water. If you ignore those dove grey titles though, I’m still on track, and will update you soon 🙂
