The Courtauld Annual Book Sale, London

After last week's NY Art Book Fair, it was London's turn to get bookish with The Coutauld Institute's annual book sale. Friday was a typically rainy day in London, so on my lunch break I decided there would be nothing better than running five minutes across to Somerset House, the home of London Fashion Week and the Courtauld gallery, to rummage through tables of overflowing boxes packed full of bargain art and design books. Their annual sale is definitely one of London’s best-kept book secrets, attracting some of the savviest art and literature bookworms around.

This year’s fair was very heavy on 20th century art, from Kandinsky to Jackson Pollock, and it didn’t stop there. There were hundreds of catalogues from plenty of our great London galleries, beautiful old travel books, first-edition novels, and some poetry books. My coolest find was an old Dr. Seuss book with his original cartoon sketches from World War II. You do have to be up for a bit of digging, but you'll be sure to score some great material. Plus, all the proceeds from the sale go towards student travel grants––a great cause.

Through Tuesday, October 9th.

SOMERSET HOUSE
Strand London
WC2R 1LA
MAP


Best find: Dr. Seuss Goes To War 



A patriotic statue 

An old piece of NYC in London

Knee-deep in old travel books 

A book of David Hockney's original posters 

First edition of the complete works of D.H. Lawrence 

Me revealing my inner bookworm


Somerset House, a true London establishment