Recommended by Mure
A bookkeeper's quiet reckoning, set over one Edinburgh winter. The best last page I've read all year.
Fiction£14.99
EST. MCMLXXII · VICTORIA STREET · EDINBURGH
An independent
bookshop,
since 1972.
Twenty thousand titles up a winding stair on Victoria Street. A Thursday-evening reading series since the Heath government, a staff cat called Hamish, and not a single algorithm telling you what to read next.
20,000Titles on the shelves
54Years on the same street
1Shop cat, named Hamish
Bought, sold & valued❦Open seven days a week❦Hamish, in residence since 2016❦Wrapped in brown paper, never plastic❦Reading series, every Thursday since ’72
01 / New & notable
Just up
the stairs.
What’s landed this week and what’s nearly gone - handwritten on the chalkboard by the till, and copied here every Monday morning. Signed copies are first-come; the last copies don’t hang about.
TitleAuthorStatusPrice
The Loose Ledger
Granton · 1st ed.
Signed copies
£14.99
Saltmarsh
Solway Press
Just in
£16.99
The Cartographer's Apology
Paperback
Staff pick
£12.99
Northing
Poetry · 1st ed.
Just in
£11.00
A Year of Small Weathers
Essays
Staff pick
£18.99
Tenement
History · hardback
Last copies
£22.00
The Glasshouse Keeper
Paperback
Just in
£14.99
Field Notes for the End of Summer
Poetry
Last copies
£10.99
The Annotated Tram
Reprinting · autumn
Reprinting
-
Reserve any title by phone - we’ll set it behind the counter for three days.
02 / Staff picks
What we’re pressing
into hands this month.
Four of us, four favourites - and one from Hamish, who has surprisingly good taste in nature writing. Each comes with a card tucked inside saying why.
Recommended by Hamish
A year walking the Solway tideline. Slow, salt-bitten and gorgeous - the cat sat on it for a fortnight.
Nature£16.99
Recommended by Catriona
A mapmaker redraws a coastline that no longer exists. Strange, tender, and over far too soon.
Fiction£12.99
Recommended by Dev
Poems for leaving a place and the long way north. Read 'The Ferry' aloud - trust me.
Poetry£11.00
03 / Subscription
A book a month,
chosen by us.
Tell us roughly what you like and how often, and a hand-picked book arrives wrapped in brown paper with a note inside. No two boxes the same, never a duplicate of something you own. Pause or cancel any time.
A What shall we choose?
B How often?
C Format, and how to get it?
Collect from the counter on Victoria Street whenever suits - we'll hold it with your name on it.
04 / Events
Thursdays
in the back room.
The reading series has run every Thursday since 1972 - authors, poets, the occasional argument, and a glass of something at the interval. Most things are free; just tell the counter you’re coming.
Thu · 5 Jun · 19:00Maeve BrennanReads from The Loose Ledger, then signs copies. The one to start with.Free3 seats
Tue · 10 Jun · 18:30Poetry at the CounterOpen mic, second Tuesday. Bring a poem of your own or someone else's.FreeDrop in
Thu · 19 Jun · 19:00Iain Crae, in conversationOn Saltmarsh, the Solway tideline, and writing a landscape that keeps moving.£6Booking
Sat · 28 Jun · 11:00Children's HourPicture books, a story read aloud, and a biscuit. Under-sevens and a grown-up.FreeDrop in
Monthly · first ThuThe Folio Book ClubOne book a month, all welcome. June's is The Cartographer's Apology.FreeJoin
05 / Rare & antiquarian
For the
collectors.
Behind the glass at the top of the stair: first editions, signed association copies, old Scottish maps and the odd thing we can’t quite bring ourselves to sell. We catalogue a little, hoard a little, and are always happy to talk.
We buy too - single volumes to whole libraries, house clearances and estates. Bring a box in, or book a valuation and we’ll come to the shelves. One honest figure, no commission games.
1898
Oldest title currently in stock
By appt.
Valuations, free & unhurried
Always
Buying - single books to libraries
06 / Visit
Find us on the bend.
Halfway down Victoria Street, where it curves - the deep-green shopfront with books in the window and, more often than not, Hamish asleep among them. Mind the stair; it’s steeper than it looks.
The shop
14 Victoria Street
Old Town, Edinburgh
EH1 2JW · Scotland
Open
Mon – Wed09:00 – 18:00
Thursday09:00 – 20:00 · readings
Fri – Sat09:00 – 18:00
Sunday11:00 – 17:00
Say hello
+44 131 226 0072
counter@folioandco.scot
@folioandco