Man I would be broke from buying so many books if I lived in the UK! I'm from Argentina and overall we have a good reading culture, but we don't have bookstores that big and diverse. I admire how much love is put in collections from the UK and the USA such as Everyman's Library, Library of America or the Loebs (I do believe that in general the best resources to learn classical languages are in english!)

It’s a good resolution never to leave a bookshop without a purchase.

The way you talk about books makes me endlessly inspired to read more and stay excited to read the great works, thank you for doing what you do!!

Just discovered this channel this morning. Very informative. Benjamin is not only attractive but intelligent and informative. Now, to start reading books again.... thanks.

Please do more of these, wiil you? Even though I won't be able to go for such an extensive collection right now (hopefully in the future!), I would love to see you explore the bookstores going through them. I deeply relate to the joy of buying books after walking around a bookstore browsing tonnes of books!

I found your channel recently and have been enjoying these immensely. I cannot put into words the joy it is to listen to your immense knowledge and passion for reading literature and your discussions. This bookstore is a treasure palace. You're very fortunate to live in London. Those bookstores put the basic ones here, in the states, to shame. I'd be there for hours wandering around. That classics section! I loved reading various ancient authors and I took classical studies as a history major. I love all types of literature and from various countries. I started reading A Tale of Genji but have to go back to it. I was reading Bleak House, Lord of the Rings, Frankenstein again because they go along with the Autumn weather. Reading has always been a way to be part of another world; to escape into another time, place, character. Your videos are amazing as it is a shame not to be able to have discussions as there are so few people who are into literature and books. I am hoping to go to London in December 2022 to see the Cure and after seeing this bookstore, I will have to make my way there when I'm in London.

Please do more of these! I love tossing them on as I work.

Fun. Thanks for the tour. FYI: Barnes and Noble is nothing like this store. Sadly they are being bled to death by Amazon.

I am currently reading The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and am so immersed in the story!! Thank you for this vlog, it’s a nice change of pace.

That’s awesome that you met Pratchett, Ben! What a man he was.

Loved your bookshop journey and could feel your delight and enjoyment of new editions and discovery of old favourites. Totally experience the same joy in a good bookshop. Please do more discussions as well as lectures. Appreciated.

This was great! Would love more of these

Bought Genji years ago and still haven't started reading it - perhaps I might try your reading plan of one chapter a month. Love these types of videos by the way - always fun to see inside new bookstores.

I’ve only just discovered your page and as a fellow book lover, I really love your channel. 📚👌🏽

I throughly enjoyed this video... hello from Sydney Australia 🇦🇺 I can’t get enough of my books. Love to read.

I’m visiting London and York for the first time this fall with my sister from the US. We’re are big readers and plan to hunt down some great books! I really love these vlogs.

honestly really like the vlog style and would like to see more! i also really enjoy your usual stuff too

tysm for existing and yes we need more of these. Personally wouldn't even mind a day in your life type vlog or if you go on a trip to a museum or art gallery and take us along because in all honesty I just love learning from you.

I thoroughly enjoyed this vlog 😎 Thank you for being such a big inspiration to me :D

What a glamorous book shop 🎩

A thousand percent better stocked than Barnes and Noble. What a treat!

Thank you for giving a shout out to the designers of the book cover I'm an artist and I've always loved good book covers.. usually they get overlooked overlooked

Hi Ben. I just wanted to thank you for sharing your incredible passion for, and knowledge of, literature. Your enthusiasm is endearing and infectious. Please keep making the videos. I'm 59, and books are my best friends!

Loved this! I love your lecture style videos but would really appreciate it if you could do more of these bookstore vlogs. They are really enjoyable and fun and it's always nice to see all these beautiful places and books all the way from India! 😁 Thank you for all the effort you put in your channel and content. I'd love it to see your channel grow more. ❤️❤️

I paused the video when you mentioned meeting Pratchett just to write how envy I am. Also, if you could film a video about the best translations to English of classics that would be great. I know there are quite a few and it will take forever but I think because bed translations some canon gets bed rep. It happened to me with so many classics. And, thank you for this channel. It's fantastic.

Thank you, Benjamin. This video made may mouth water! Here in the states you can't find books stores like that (not in California, anyhow). But, it's almost a good as going, to go vicariously, through this video. Its always a treat to watch your videos!👌😄

I love a bookstore organized by publisher. Much fun to browse and discover unfamiliar titles from favorite authors. Years ago there was a bookstore like this one in Berkeley, near the University of California. A great bookstore.

Loved the blog tour. Do a series of favorite bookstores. The owners should give you discounts for the fantastic tours. Since I retired to a town on the pacific coast of Mexico I don’t have access to English bookstores and libraries. I have a great quiet place to read with a partial ocean view though. It takes a week or two to get books from Amazon. My Spanish only gradually gets better - oddly I can recognize Mexican accents - if I’m watching a documentary from Spain I can usually tell if they’re from Spain because Castilian Spanish is so different. Oddly I’ve spent more time with the Russian writers because I already studied it and I love the sounds of the language. Dostoevsky is hard - even for Russian speakers. Just a small tiny request - Dostoevsky’s first name is pronounced “fyo” “dor” - two syllables. There’s a minor cringe effect when you say “fee-oh-dor.” In Cyrillic the name is spelled "фëдор." The umlauted e ( ë ) is pronounced "yo." If you really want to impress a Russian place the tips of your upper teeth on your lower lip. Slide your teeth inward, over your lip while making the "fff" sound - it's a more strongly aspirated "fffhhh." Almost like forced air is making the lower lip pop out. "ffffhhyo - durrr." Roll that "r" a bit. Russians sometimes complement me on my Russian. I thinks it’s because I walk down the street repeating Russian expressions in my head. What I think they really mean is that “for an English speaker” my pronunciation is good. I’ve gotten quite a bit out of your videos about Dostoevsky. A writer who all too well understood where the 20th century was headed - partly because a talented, promising was almost killed by firing squad and spent several years in the labor prison system exposed him to so many kinds of Russian and human behavior it affected him the rest of his life. Some of the best insights I got were from reading how a lot of Jewish readers try to figure out what to make of Dostoevsky’s faith in Jewish terms. It led me to quite a bit of reading about early Jewish, Greek and Christian thought which was often quite different from how we think about Christianity and faith today. I never knew that many desert peoples are monotheistic - I always thought Judaism was the first monotheistic faith.

Really enjoyed this video because I love looking at bookshelves and reading the titles of the books. Also, the idea of visiting a bookstore virtually in London, a place I have never been, was really cool, I have that exact copy of Tales of Genji. I would not read that way, spread out over a year. There are a lot of characters and it can be difficult to keep track of them and how they are connected. It is a wonderful book that describes the life and culture of a very sophisticated Japanese society.Worthy of a re-read.

I would like to sleep here or rent an apartment near this bookstore or request to work here. Life is good.

So happy find you here

You're lucky to have access Ben. Haven't been to U.K. in years. I came across your channel 6 months and you've inspired me to dive back into the classics as I'm in retirement now. I hear the ticking of the clock at 74 and there is much I want to get to. Just finished Tess of the Durbervilles. The ending caught me by surprise! I recently picked up my first Everyman in a Saigon bookshop. Appropriately it was Collected Stories by Somerset Maugham! Keep up your good work.

Love your vlogs as well as your lectures. Takes me to bookstores I would otherwise never see. Hete in Cape Town we have nothing to compare. Sob.

I am glad to see that you started experimenting with youtube, i really enjoyed this video. Sadly there are no libraries this big in my country xd Personally, i enjoy your "lecture style" videos, so i guess i would enjoy a mixture of both, but just do whatever you enjoy of course

Oh the joy of bookstores, and how I want to visit Waterstone's! What a great vlog episode! Please do an episode on Gilgamesh, if you do Beowulf!

The problem is that when you remove the cover from a book, you ruin its value in terms of collectibility. 90% of a book’s value to collectors is in its dust jacket.

Wow this is just amazing I can't believe these are just laying around i have been dying to get my hands on latin Greek literature ah tragedy poetry and complete works in everyman's.. this is heaven.

This was fun! The matching covers in the classics section look tremendously satisfying. And, man, that is a huge wall of everyman's library editions. I didn't know about everyman's before joining the book club, so I never looked for these in the bookstore. Now I wonder what that looks like at my local Barnes & Noble. Regarding ancient classics, I would be delighted to read some along with the club! I know my 5-year-old copy of Homer's Iliad is itching to come out of the bookshelf and get some air 😂

The Tale of Genji was one of Marguerite Yourcenar’s favourite books. I believe she rearead it regularly throughout her whole life. I’m a huge Yourcenar’s fan and, inspired by her, I bought the book years ago. Now I only have to find the courage to read it 😉 By the way, a Japanese friend of mine was also rather dismissive abou it…

I will empty my pocket in a minute once I arrive there.

currently reading The Red and the Black by Stendhal. Really pleased to have found your channel.

I would listen to Librivox while I worked from home and I developed an affection for Wilkie Collins. I just found your videos yesterday and appreciate your suggestions. I pulled out Emil fran Lonneberga and "read" a page in Swedish. Just a page at a time and using a Google search bar photo to get a translator. Thank you, Jeff

The Everyman's collection is stunning! There's nothing like that here in the US bookstores, at least not that I know of. We must buy them online. British book covers are the best!

i finally found a youtube channel that reviews ACTUAL classic books . // from a dostoevsky fan

New subscriber :) Im off to London tomorrow so Im binge watching bookshop vlogs haha

Wow, I'd love to visit this bookshop! In Germany, even the bigger chain bookshops rarely have more than one edition of a book. They do have a classic section, but you can't compare it at all. Often they have only got one work per author which looks as if it had gone through 1000 hands already. I was surprised to see the Leuchtturm notebooks. I used to have them as my book journals but recently they bleed through a lot more, so I won't buy them anymore.

Plz more of these video❤

I like to buy books from the antique store as well (of course they are less expensive) and I got so excited to find Proust I bought the whole series of In search of lost time and I can't whait to start reading them.

How great that UK bookstores have such a large selection of classic literature in so many editions. Unfortunately, there is no such choice in Poland, especially when it comes to English literature. That's why I love watching vlogs from bookstores in UK. You can feel the spirit of true and living literature there!

Commendable camera work, felt I was there myself.

There are many Waterstones in the US. They were purchased by Barens & Nobles in 2018.

I can’t believe the selection of books at Waterstones. Here in the States, my local Barnes & Noble has a single bookcase of classics.

I just discovered your channel today and found your content quite helpful. It is quite surreal to see that you like to go to one of my local Waterstones lol

Hoping you'll take us to more bookshops.

Love old and Middle English please more

I can't leave a bookstore without a penguin classics black and white

I recently discovered Pushkin Press, they publish a lot of obscure but fantastic authors from around the world and yes, a lot of Russians too. Recently read Gaito Gazdanov's The Buddha Returns and it was marvelous! Highly recommend! Love this vlog Benjamin, it's really different from ppl just walking around and holding up books..the narration and your thoughts really elevate the experience.

You could make a great contribution by structuring a series of lectures showing how history and literature evolved hand in glove from Beowulf through the Anglo Saxon Chronicles and on to the Canterbury Tales. Those of us with sketchy grounding in these topics would be much in your debt if you brought these times to light.

Enjoying your videos from across the pond! Have you ever considered narrating? You've got a great voice and accent. I'm currently reading the Hobbit for the first time...I have a few books going right now. I also picked up a copy of Beowulf a little while ago, I'll have to see what version it is. Anyway, happy reading!

I've got to go to that store, one day! Wow!

aesthetic.

Bookstore vlogs...... Second best to bookstore hopping myself..... Unfortunately we are in lockdown...

enjoyed your vlog

French book covers are indeed very different from English ones. Not many illustrations but they can be very elegant too! Do you know La Pléiade collection? It's absolutely fantastic! There are also La collection blanche by Gallimard and Les éditions de minuit. Beautiful books ;-)

Had to read Beowulf in high school, go Grendel, eat him please. Read Grendel by John Gardner. I love ellipses.

I always enjoy your posts. What do you do with the covers when you take them off and how do you put them away so they won't become damaged?

I also toss the dust jackets for both my Everyman’s and Library of America.

You should totally do the doctorate :)

I recently came across your KZfaq channel and I really enjoy your insights. I may have missed it, but have you done a program on George Meredith? He's probably my favorite British novelist right now, but it seems that no one reads him anymore. (Certainly not in the US.) Is that true in the UK as well? I love the Egoist, and even The Shaving of Shagpat. I'd be very interested in opinion of him. Best, Rob in NYC.

Have you been to Hay-on-Wye? A guided tour through that town would be such good content.

Translations of Tale of the Genji? With translations you're probably looking at fidelity and style so partly personal taste, partly technical ability of the translator. There was a fellow who translated The Mathnawi of Rumi "from the original Persian" - and the guy did not actually know Persian. Another famous Orientalist, whose name escapes me, "translated" the Quran from Syriac - it's in Arabic, not Syriac, which is rather like translating Shakespeare "from the original Dutch". When choosing translations, it pays to do a little research first, and for major authors and works - Proust, Tolstoy, Cervantes, consider learning French, Russian.... whatever, particularly if you contemplate reading these works multiple times. Most English speakers can develop reasonable reading competency in most Western languages in around 1000 hours of study, or about 12 to 18 months. Non Indo-European languages will typically take longer to master. Pete Buttigieg, Biden's Secretary of Transportation, speaks multiple languages and learned Norwegien because there was something he wanted to read.

I found a collection of Frank Norris. I think, Everyman books.

most helpful and interesting

Ben, I enjoyed this. So lush.Thank you! The only Japanese author I read is Murakami. Perhaps one day you can share your thoughts on him.

Have you ever read any Maria Edgeworth? I would be interested to see a video on her sometime. Thank you for all of your amazing content. You are a true inspiration, thank you for your work.

I also like to take the dust jacket off of my Everymans books, but I have a question for you. What do you do with the jackets themselves? I really like the look of them I just prefer to read a hard cover when its bare, but I dont want to get rid of the covers either!! What a first world problem

I really need to go there. I'm in Canada, so it's pretty difficult. But who knows!

Wow, what a great book store! Very jealous

Very sad to say we have handful of bookstores in Kathmandu .There are few second hand used book shops ....😥

You might like to pick up a copy of Tillyard's *The English Epic and Its Background* if you haven't already!

The best books are always those that take forever to explain seemingly nothing!

A humble request. As you mentioned, you will at some point start reading Indian Literature. Just in the case of "Indian ancient works", kindly try to stick with Indian translators. This is because, in most of the Western translations I came across, I encountered 'some' mistakes in interpretation (of course unintentional). By the way, amazing videos. Respects, from Kolkata.

What a tragedy that Tolkien abandoned his "common reader" project! Academics be damned, for this loss!

Please do more book related vlogs.

Can anyone elaborate about the woman who wrote (or I imagine compiled) Genesis? I'm unfamiliar with that.

I have just discovered the lovely world of Everyman’s. Picked up Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol and stripped it naked to reveal it’s BEAUTIFUL burgundy red hardback. Will definitely collect more Everyman’s!!

❤

Great video - have you read any Graham Greene?

❤Beowulf

I wish the towns in my country weren't filled with mosques. The vibe that aesthetics of a more secular, learned society gives is celestial.

The bardolater in me is massively triggered by the sign behind his head in the intro... I hope it's a joke! 😅

What if I am from Turkey? I haven't heard of that bookstore mate 🤣 jk

I'm French and I HATE covers of French books, Most of them are just plain ugly, it'sa shame. French editors are lazy on this point. Really, covers are so important to catch the eye and spark interest!

I am glad to see that you started experimenting with youtube, i really enjoyed this video. Sadly there are no libraries this big in my country xd Personally, i enjoy your "lecture style" videos, so i guess i would enjoy a mixture of both, but just do whatever you enjoy of course