Bow Windows Bookshop

Well stocked bookshop catering for most tastes in reading. Staff do not mind you browsingand taking your time. Good place to be if your wife is on shopping mission. Prices are very fair and open to negotiation.

Bow Window Bookshop is the seriously posh end of second hand book shopping. It’s laid out like a library, with gleaming panes giving view to rows of clean, shiny spines, ordered by subject, alphabet, and then apparently by colour and attractiveness. I walked in, the outside racks having given me the impression that this place was fairly average price– and selection-​wise, but swiftly walked out again when I realised the paperback I was idly thumbing came to £10. Having said that, it’s clearly well run, well chosen and well restored books, so is a very good quality shop — just not great for the casual browser with only change to hand.

I walked in here with the Americano I purchased from the Caffe Nero just across the street. Before walking in, I was unsure if they wanted me to put my drink down. Seeing as how this is a bookshop that sells rare and classic books, I thought that it would be best to put my drink down in case I tripped and spilled my drink all over their rare books. But then I saw their children’s section, and saw that they were selling a copy of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s «The Secret Garden» and I walked right towards it. I immediately grabbed the book, and started walking around the shop, completely forgetting that I was carrying an Americano. When I moved to the back of the shop (where the reference books were located), the shopkeeper walked up to me and said, «Excuse me, I know you’re being careful, but it would ease my mind if you would place your coffee on the front desk.» I immediately apologized and said: «Oh, I was just about to leave.» We smiled at each other, and I paid for my book. So, yeah, it’s a great shop for children’s books, fiction novels and reference books. A lot of the books here are in first edition and/​or rare, so they are pricey and it’s not the best etiquette to walk in with food or drink in your hands.

Lovely shop. They books are looked after well and browsing here is a complete escape from the world! Good selection of collectors antiquarian illustrated books and cookery books.

This is a very Lewes Shop, luxurious and rich paint, beautiful, intellectual and interesting collectors items, and well laid out and tidy.
If your looking for a second hand place that is like the 15^th century bookshop, ramshackle and ridiculously quaint, this is not the type of place.
This is for serious collectors who have nice clean houses with a few choice things (maybe?), not for mad old bag ladies, which you could imagine cram into the 15^th century bookstore in droves.
I saw some beautiful leatherbound classics, as well as some interesting art books. There was a book here that was going for £600. Now come on!

This is the most classic of bookshops– as the name suggests it has beautiful bow windows– an elegant dark red frontage, wooden floors, wooden floor to ceiling bookshelves and row after row of leather bound, cloth bound, dust-​covered classic books, first editions and rare books. It has a hushed and reverent feel to it when you first walk in, but quickly as you scan through the books you realise that there are all kinds of books here– all second-​hand and prime condition– but not all out of reach. You can’t go in and find any number of books for a few pounds but you can buy a great hardback first edition of an Anita Loos, Paul Auster, Ian McEwan or an art book for between £10 and £20. Or… you could spend several hundred (even thousands) on a rare and/​or old book.