One of my favorite places in Oxford is Blackwell Bookshop, right in the heart of the city on Broad Street. On the outside it looks like a small, dusty old bookshop but looks can be deceiving. It is so much bigger than it looks. Once inside, the store seems to go on for blocks with miles of bookshelves filled with the most wonderful books. You can find anything at Blackwell. I never go inside unless I have an hour or two to kill – it’s that kind of bookshop.
The Oxford’s shop is the original store that was founded in 1879 by Benjamin Henry Blackwell, son of a local librarian. Benjamin finished school at age 13 and learned the bookselling trade as an apprentice to a local bookseller. This first flagship shop was originally only twelve feet square but quickly grew to incorporate the upstairs, cellar and neighboring shops.
Benjamin Henry's son Basil became the first Blackwell to go to university. He attended Merton College at Oxford and then joined the family firm in 1913, after a spell as an apprentice publisher in London. He was tasked with expanding his father's publishing business, which helped launch the careers of many writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
The company has made a determined policy since the 1990s to spread out from its traditional Oxford base and become a much broader UK presence. Blackwell’s now has over 60 retail outlets across the UK, including a number of specialist shops, with several medical outlets. The company is still in the hands of the Blackwell family.
The Norrington room was opened in 1966 and named after Sir Arthur Norrington, President of Trinity College. It has three miles of shelving with 10,000 square feet making it the largest single room selling books.
