C.W. Bailey & Son, Booksellers
If you want to just shop for books, you'd best go to Foyles. But the actors, bohemians, and other folk without a lot of money seem to gravitate to Bailey's. Their catalogue is...eclectic, but if you want something 100 years old, or that used to be owned by John Dee, or that has margin notes in Vulgate, Bailey's is a good place to start.
Purpose / Function
Ann Bailey inherited the shop from her father just a few years ago. The shop deals in second-hand books, both in their collection and in marrying up people wanting to sell and people wanting to buy.
Customers can come in during regular hours (opening and closing late), or can check in with the store's catalogue agent, Shaw Hughes
Customers can come in during regular hours (opening and closing late), or can check in with the store's catalogue agent, Shaw Hughes
Architecture
The store consists mostly of a long hallway, lined with shelves and split with the occasional table. The storage area includes a workspace for restoration of texts.
History
C.W. Bailey shared in the cost of renovating the theater that opens onto Shaftesbury Avenue to make it into a cinema. Exchanging it for a lease at reasonable terms of the spaces that used to be used by the actors and prop storage, Bailey opened a bookseller's.
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