Contents
| 1. | Amsterdam |
| 2. | Berlin |
| 3. | Yerevan |
| 4. | London |
| 5. | New York |
| 6. | Paris |
| 7. | San Francisco and Bay Area |
| 8. | Tbilisi |
Amsterdam
Shops selected by Edgar Walthert, independent graphic and type designer
American Book Center
Van Ostadestraat 233
A large store that includes a dedicated typography shelf featuring titles from Letterform Archive.
Image: American Book Center, LinkedIn
Athenaeum
Spui 14-16
A bookstore with magazines and a strong selection of design and typography books.
Image: Conde Nast Traveler
Books at
Columbusplein 233
A shop with new and second-hand art books and small publications, though not primarily focused on typography.
Image: Contemporary Art Library
Bookie Wookie
Geldersekade 39
A bookstore specialising in self-published artist books.
Image: Bookie Wookie
San Serriffe
Sint Annenstraat 30
A bookshop specialising in graphic design, design theory, and typography, located in the historic centre of Amsterdam.
Image: Bergen Art Bookfair
Terry Bleu
Van Ostadestraat 233
A silkscreen and risograph printing studio with a small shop in the heart of Amsterdam.
Image: Corner
Uitgeverij de Buitenkant
Schipperstraat 11
A shop offering many typographic classics. Best visited by appointment.
Image: Google Maps
Berlin
Shops selected by Rob Keller, artist and founder of Mota Italic
A—Z
Torstraße 93
A space for experimental graphic design, regularly hosting interesting exhibitions and talks on a wide range of type and design topics. Their shop offers books, zines, and prints by independent authors.
Image: A—Z
Antiquariat Minx
Bergmannstraße 20
An antique bookshop with a great variety of books, and always a solid selection of typography titles.
Image: Antiquariat Minx
Bücherbogen
Stadtbahnbogen 593
A bookshop with a large section of type, design, and art books.
Image: Palladium Photodesign
Do you read me?!
Auguststraße 28
The shop mostly sells magazines, but has an exceptional design-oriented selection.
Image: AIGA Eye on Design
Flohmarkt am Arkonaplatz
Arkonaplatz 1
The best flea market for finding type-related materials. Open Sundays, 10:00-17:00.
Image: Flohmarkt am Arkonaplatz
Modulor
Auguststraße 28
Modulor has a small section of typography books, but more importantly, they have all the tools and paper you could ever want to make your own lettering, sketches, paintings, and sculptures.
Image: Monocle
Trödelmarkt
Straße des 17. Juni 110
The oldest central flea market for arts and
Image: Rausgegangen
Yerevan
Shops selected by Ayarpi Akopyan, independent Armenian type designer
Գրախանութ էյէմ
17 Garegin Nzhdeh St
A second-hand bookshop with a wide selection and reasonable prices.
Image: Գրախանութ էյէմ
Common Ground
28 Tumanyan St
A bookshop and wine bar where you can find books published by Schrift Publishers.
Image: Common Ground
Epigraph
43 Mesrop Mashtots Ave
A place combining an art supply store and a bookstore featuring a few books on art, photography and design.
Image: Epigraph
Kanach Kakach
16 Martiros Saryan St
A small garage shop with a thoughtfully curated selection of magazines.
Image: Kanach Kakach
Zangak
49 Komitas Ave
A chain of bookshops, the most atmospheric of which is located beneath the offices of the publishing house of the same name.
Image: Zangak
London
Shops selected by Zhenya Spizhovyi, independent Ukrainian type designer based in London
Any Amount of Books
56 Charing Cross Road
A second-hand bookshop with a long history, located in the city centre between Soho and Covent Garden. A great place for bookworms. Among many other things, you can find old and rare books, and sometimes even type specimens.
Image: Any Amount of Books
Bookartbookshop
17 Pitfield St
A charming place focused on artist books, self-publishing, risograph printing, and small press publications. In fact, they do not even have their own website. It is a friendly shop that is definitely worth visiting if you love beautiful books. You can even find books about lettering and typography there.
Image: Tripadvisor
Collinge & Clark
13 Leigh St
Imagine Ollivanders, but instead of magic wands it sells old books about type, typography, and calligraphy. Collinge & Clark is exactly that kind of shop in central London.
Image: On the Grid
MagCulture
270 St John St
One of the best independent magazine shops in the world. If you are interested in graphic design, typography, editorial design, art direction, and contemporary print culture, this place is well worth a visit.
Image: MagCulture
Tenderbooks
6 Cecil Court
Just a short walk away from Any Amount of Books you will find a bookshop focused on contemporary publications. Tenderbooks feels more like a small local gallery than a bookshop. While it does not specialise in type and typography, you will find plenty of beautiful type and excellent typography in action, both on book covers and inside the books. The shop specialises in publications from independent publishers.
Image: Tenderbooks
St. Bride Foundation
14 Bride Ln
A huge typography archive. It is not at the top of this list only because it does not have a permanent bookshop. Even so, it is an essential place for anyone interested in type and typography. Their regular events often include excellent book sales. They also have a good online shop and ship orders twice a week.
Image: Living London History
New York
Shops selected by Elizabeth Goodspeed, art director, designer, and editor-at-large at It’s Nice That
Alabaster Bookshop
56 E 4th St
’Another oldie, one of the last used bookstores standing on what used to the bookstore row. They’re near Cooper union and I think get a lot of off casts from students there. Good type section and lots of children’s books (which I love for type inspo)!’
Image: Columbia News Service
Argosy
56 E 4th St
‘Argosy is rather the posh side, but you can find some cheaper gems! Lots of maps and ephemera to poke through!’
Image: Argosy
Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks
928 E 2nd St
‘While the title of her store is ’cookbooks’ she actually has culinary ephemera of all
Lastly, part of what makes the place so special is Bonnie herself: she has the exact combination of grumpiness, knowledge, and hidden generosity that I have come to associate with old school book-sellers!’
Image: Epicurious
Climax Books
56 E 4th St
’Originally an offshoot of a Marc Jacobs brand, this spot is great for fashion and erotica. I got an amazing book of Japanese wrestling mags here once. Lots of Japanese stuff!’
Image: UTIL
Left Bank Books
399 N. Euclid Street
’A regular at Cooper Type, this spot has amazing design finds like old Colors Magazine, Eros, etc. I’ve bought a ton here over the years!’
Image: Left Bank Books
Mercer St.
206 Mercer St
’Bookstore but I go here mostly for records. Another spot that’s a total mess but has a lot of amazing nooks and crannies full of good books!’
Image: The Shopkeepers
Pillowcat Books
328 East 9th Street
’A used and new bookstore focusing on animal related books, but they take that definition pretty loosely. Part of the fun of this place is that the store is super well-designed, with bright lime green walls, a giant neon sign, and a zebra-print carpet.
They have a particularly strong collection of Japanese publications. For example, Japanese Playboys with animal themed covers from the late 60s. Lastly, as all bookstores should, they do have a store cat, obviously named Pillowcat!’
Image: The New York Times
Westsider Books
2246 Broadway
’A classic on the Upper West Side. They have a bit of everything and a really deep stock. The kind of place you need to go through boxes on the floor. It’s not huge but I always find something amazing here. One of my best finds was a book on Egyptian ornament that I reference religiously!’
Image: AIRE UVS
Paris
Shops selected by Adelina Shaidullina, writer and editor at type.today
\hon\ books
122 Boulevard Murat
A bookshop specialising in rare and out-of-print publications on art, design, and politics, with a particular interest in typography and counterculture.
Image: \hon\ books
After 8 Books
7 Rue Jarry
A shop with an excellent selection of new books on art, design, typography, and design theory, as well as a small selection of zines.
Image: After 8 Books
Artazart
83 Quai de Valmy
A place primarily focused on illustration that always carries a few useful contemporary books on design and typography.
Image: ANA
Librairie Paul Jammes
3 Rue Gozlin
A shop with a second-hand collection ranging from 15th-century astronomy books to typographic classics from the 18th to the 21st centuries.
Image: International League of Antiquarian Booksellers
Ofr.
20 rue Dupetit-Thouars
A bookshop and gallery focused primarily on photography, art, and fashion. It also features a small section dedicated to contemporary typography.
Image: Le Marais Mood
The Radical Media Archive
1 Rue Eugène Spuller
A bookshop dedicated to alternative press publications from the 1960s to the 1980s, with a strong selection of design-related magazines.
Image: Word, Sounds, Colors and Shapes
San Francisco and Bay Area
Shops selected by Stephen Coles, editorial director & associate curator at Letterform Archive and publisher of Fonts In Use and Typographica
Alameda Point Antiques Faire
3900 Main Street, Alameda
An antique fair with a 25-year history, held on the site of the former Naval Air Station. It takes place on the first Sunday of every month, 6 am-3 pm, and is a great place to shop for jewelry, art, pottery, and books.
Image: Tidbits & Twine
Builder’s Booksource
1817 Fourth St, Berkeley
The store dedicated to providing architects and designers with the books they need for their both commercial and personal projects.
Image: Fourth Street
Moe’s Books
2476 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley
A four-floor bookshop on Telegraph Avenue, a few blocks from UC Berkeley’s campus. New, used, and antiquarian titles across pretty much every subject, with a separate rare book and art room on the top
Image: The New York Times
Spectator Books
4163 Piedmont Ave, Oakland
A charming place focused on artist books, self-publishing, risograph printing, and small press publications. In fact, they do not even have their own website. It is a friendly shop that is definitely worth visiting if you love beautiful books. You can even find books about lettering and typography there.
Image: Corner
Stout Booksellers
804 Montgomery Street
Tens of thousands of titles covering architecture, art, urban planning, graphic and industrial design, interiors, and landscape
Image: The Architect’s Newspaper
Tbilisi
Shops selected by CSTM Fonts
Kona Books
10 Giorgi Maziniashvili St
A small shop founded by the publishers Posta Press and Kona Books. It specializes in artist books, zines, and small-run projects from independent publishers.
Image: Kona Books
They Said Books
10 Giorgi Akhvlediani St
A bookshop where you can find books by young independent Georgian designers and artists, though most of the selection consists of books from Taschen and Gestalten.
Image: They Said Books
Stamba Bookstore
14 Merab Kostava St
A bookshop inside a hotel built in the former House of Press. At Stamba Bookstore you can find books on Georgian design and typography.
Image: Stamba Bookstore
Bookvica
15 Dimitri Uznadze St
A shop specializing in books published in post-Soviet countries and for post-Soviet readers. Bookvica sells, for example, reprints of Constructivist books, samizdat, and tamizdat.
Image: Bookvica
Oldbookstory
30 Ivane Javakhishvili St
A second-hand bookshop selling rare books, old posters, stamps, postcards, and much more.
Image: Oldbookstory
Book Corner
5 Shalva Dadiani St
A second-hand bookshop with four rooms where you can find everything from Soviet film posters to sheet music by contemporary Armenian composers.
Image: Book Corner