Near one of London’s most popular districts for shopping and entertainment in the West End, a book lover’s haven offers a respite from the hustle and bustle of the city.
Lined with shops whose facades haven’t changed much since the 19th century, Cecil Court is a snapshot of quintessential, idyllic London—the classic elegance of historic buildings mixed with a charm and intrigue that comes from the curiosities waiting just beyond their doors.
As one of Covent Garden’s oldest passageways, Cecil Court dates back to the 17th century. Cecil Court’s storied history tells a tale marked by the fingerprints of common criminals, a potential arsonist, a child prodigy, filmmakers, and, eventually, a slew of booksellers.
Beginning as a primarily residential area, though perhaps one of less-than-desirable repute given the residents’ frequent presence in local trial transcripts, Cecil Court was partly destroyed by a fire in 1735 that may well have been started by one of its own residents. Elizabeth Calloway owned a brandy shop in Cecil Court known for its rowdy clientele. The brandy shop—with the storeroom and barrels that should have been full of spirits suspiciously empty—burned down. Neighboring buildings caught flame, spreading to other nearby streets. Despite her convenient absence during the fire, the fact that she had recently bought bundles of kindling and that her goods had been over-insured, the jury was not convinced of Calloway’s involvement, and she was found not guilty for her potential role in the fire.
Cecil Court also played host to eight-year-old Mozart for a few months in 1764-65 as he traveled throughout Europe performing. Tickets for Mozart’s first London concerts were sold from the shop where he and his family stayed with a barber; passersby will notice a plaque marking his stay at the shop that stands there today. Though unconfirmed, it’s been suggested by at least one Mozart scholar that the young prodigy composed his first symphonies here at Cecil Court.
A century after Mozart’s stay, during the Victorian era, Cecil Court was rebuilt after falling into dilapidation. It was during this time that it became famous as the heart of early British film industry. Early pioneers of cinema like Nordisk, Gaumont, and Hepworth kept offices in Cecil Court, along with equipment shops and foreign film dealers, earning it the nickname “Flicker Alley.” Hepworth even released the first film version of Alice in Wonderland from his Cecil Court offices in 1903.
While its history is long and varied, the roots of Cecil Court’s status as “Booksellers’ Row” go back almost to its beginning, with the first record of bookselling dating back to 1704. Booksellers on Cecil Court have seemingly always catered to niche interests and politically relevant, sometimes controversial, topics. Some of the earliest book sales on Cecil Court were Huguenot volumes and pamphlets and Jacobite texts.
The transition to Booksellers’ Row as we know it today began before the First World War, with booksellers and publishers establishing themselves in Cecil Court alongside the film industry. Ernest Oldmeadow operated Unicorn Press from Cecil Court, employing a young Arthur Ransome, journalist and author of the Swallows and Amazons series for children. Ransome used his free time to work on his writing during his time on Cecil Court. T.S. Eliot lived in an apartment above a Cecil Court shop for a time, too.
The famous Foyles bookstore, now on Charing Cross Road, had a location on Cecil Court that became so successful it was raided by the police who assumed illegal betting must be happening behind their doors. Though Foyles moved on from Cecil Court in 1906, the remaining bookstores lining the street leave nothing wanting for bibliophiles.
Today, Cecil Court is home to around twenty shops, many of which are bookstores specializing in niche topics—antiquarian books and ephemera, rare editions, children’s literature, and more. Goldsboro Books are the UK’s leading specialist in first editions and signed editions; they even have limited editions published exclusively for the shop.
For those in search of a little magic and whimsy, Alice Through the Looking Glass specializes in Alice in Wonderland iconography, first editions, rare illustrated editions, gifts, fashion and “unique objects of desire.” Marchpane also specializes in Lewis Carroll, as well as other children’s literature and illustrated books from the 18th century onwards. They sell ephemera as well as books, with a focus on collectable classic British children’s books including Winnie the Pooh, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Wind in the Willows, and many more.
One bookstore stands out even amongst all of these notable shops—Watkins Books. Opened in 1897, Watkins Books is London’s oldest occult bookstore, becoming a fixture within London for those seeking out the obscure. It has a long and rich history, attracting some of the biggest names in the spiritualist movement, including Aleister Crowley. A biography of Crowley claims he once made all of the books in Watkins Books magically disappear and reappear. W.B. Yeats, Irish poet and member of the mysterious Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, was a frequent patron of the shop as well. While Watkins Books has changed hands over the past century, it has remained true to its original purpose: to provide a bookstore for seekers of beliefs of a different kind, the mystical, and, of course, the magical. They continue to sell these unique books as well as crystals, tarot decks, statues, and the little oddities that could only be found at a store devoted to the spiritual and occult.
Cecil Court has carved a place for itself in London’s West End that is inextricably tied to the arts—first filmmakers and now booksellers. History and literature meet on this quiet road, inviting those who feel the draw to step beyond the threshold and discover something new, or perhaps old. It’s an invitation many cannot resist, book lovers least of all. G&S
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