Blackwell’s Oxford: The Amazing 18th Century Bookshop

Blackwell’s Oxford: The Amazing 18^th Century Bookshop

If there is one special place you need to visit in Oxford, it should be Blackwell’s Oxford bookshop. We now it is rare for a bookshop to be a tourist attraction but there is something special with Blackwell’s.

Located at Broad Street, the bookshop looks like just another book shop. Founded by Benjamin Blackwell, the store opened in 1879 and it is still up and running up till today cater to the academic market and expands their stores in university towns around UK. Blackwell’s Oxford at Broad Street is the main store now.

Behind the blue doors of Blackwell’s lies the most amazing thing you can find in a bookshop. The bookshop comes with four storeys of books! There is also a music shop and a café within the bookshop. The lower ground floor which is also known as Norrington Room comes with 10,000 square feet and it is the largest single room devoted to book sales in Europe! To create that massive space, they excavated under Trinity College Gardens.

Started with 12 square feet in 1879 with only 700 used books, Blackwell’s is now a massive bookshop selling 250,000 volumes with  specialised stores for Art, Music, Rare Books, Paperbacks, Maps and Travel, Medicine, Children’s Books, and a University bookstore. Thus, you can also find second hand (used) books here.

We didn’t buy any books but we did take break and chill at the Caffe Nero. Whether you are a book lover or not, Blackwell’s Oxford is one bookshop you should not miss!

Blackwell’s Bookshop Address:

48-51 Broad Street, Oxford

Tel: 01865 792792

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/stores/oxford-bookshop/

Wilson Ng