Stepping into Goldsboro always feels like going back in time. The first thing that hits you is the smell: the scent of old buildings, fossilised wooden floorboards and ink. And books. Lots and lots of books, all of them valuable first editions and most of them signed by the authors — often in the store itself. Goldsboro isn’t an ordinary shop: it’s also a place where book-lovers from around the UK gather to find a new gem for their collection. Or, simply, to celebrate the written word.
I used to work at Goldsboro. It was my first job in London, and when I went for my interview, it was in the depths of the building, where co-founder David Headley’s literary agency (DHH) lurked at the bottom of a creaking old staircase. I got the job because “you made us laugh”, they said. I worked as a bookseller, and in between packing orders and stacking books, would spend my time people watching.
As a specialist in signed first editions, it draws a lot of collectors. Sitting behind the main desk in the shop’s centre, it was possible to see all manner of people come and go from behind the large glass windows. Mark Gatiss wandered in one day; Philip Glenister — DCI Gene Hunt — another. Bernard Cornwell says it’s his favourite bookshop in the world; Ian Rankin must like it too — he does signings frequently.
A creaky literary Eden
Part of the appeal is how hidden it feels, though it occupies a prime location on Cecil Court, the cut-through from Charing Cross Road to St Martin’s Lane. Yet curiously, despite it being so close to Leicester Square, it’s not somewhere most tourists make, just another among the warren of tiny Victorian streets that squat in the space between Seven Dials and Charing Cross.
Cecil Court’s old, red-brick walls are famous for being a book-lover’s paradise: Watkins Books (known for all things esoteric) lurks just down the road, while November Books and the Travis & Emery music bookshop sit shoulder to shoulder with fine art galleries.
Razed to the ground in 1735, the reconstructed street was even home to eight-year-old Mozart during his tour of Europe in 1764. In the early 1900s, it was called Flicker Alley for the central role it played in the birth of the British film industry. Cecil Court also, allegedly, served as the inspiration for JK Rowling’s Diagon Alley.
Its other Rowling connection? In 2013, Goldsboro was the only bookshop in the world with signed copies of the first Robert Galbraith release, The Cuckoo’s Calling. It had bought the book on its own merit, before it emerged Galbraith was the Potter author’s pseudonym. There is one on the website now, selling for £10,000.
Founded in 1999 by booksellers Headley and Daniel Gedeon, Goldsboro itself has occupied a spot at the end of the court ever since they partnered. It’s based in what used to be three separate buildings, which have all been knocked through to create the shop. As such, though it looks innocuous on the outside, a push on its black-painted, pleasingly hefty wooden door soon disabuses visitors of the notion.
The three interior rooms are all identical in size and shape: long, thin and framed with gleaming wooden bookshelves that groan with books. Wide shop front windows let in a mottled kind of light, while the wooden floorboards creak underfoot as you walk. The air is thick and quiet, but for the sound of the building itself.
Everything has a home in Goldsboro: Margaret Atwood’s poetry, Eugene O’Neill plays, the latest fantasy releases, as well as special editions of upcoming novels, which are often sold out in advance thanks to the shop’s huge, loyal customer base. Many are part of its book club, where subscribers get a monthly new read in the post, one hand-picked by the team.
The endless shelves welcome browsing, while a turn right from the central shop space opens up into another room of books. Here, a desk perches by a window at the back, where it’s not uncommon to see authors signing copies upon copies of their latest work — usually with a staff member on hand, passing them books at speed. The effect can be comical.
The first thing that hits you is the smell: the scent of old buildings, fossilised wooden floorboards and ink
Dusty ancient treasures
This room is also home to some of Goldsboro’s greatest treasures: ancient first editions — by Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl and Agatha Christie among others — that have since gone on to become classics. Examining their dusty jackets is a pleasure, but even if the older titles hold no interest, simply seeing what they have in store is exciting. The exceedingly well-read staff know what they are talking about and their expertise is famous.
Once, a customer came down into the shop’s bowels (from which orders are sent out) with a request to evaluate something they had in their hands. It turned out to be a proof copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, with an accompanying mock-up of the dust jacket. The customer looked on a little nonplussed as we goggled, starstruck. It was priceless.
For those allowed to take a peek down the stairs, acres of books await. Not just the shop’s everyday stock, but also scattered piles of proofs, waiting to be read by the team, which bump up against the ancient heating system that winds through the depths of the building.
These days, Goldsboro has an outpost in Brighton too, but in truth, nothing beats a pilgrimage to its first home in Cecil Court. The atmosphere is just different; even after
26 years, the magic is undimmed. Browse at your leisure — just make sure to keep track of the time. Just as with the books on its shelves, Goldsboro offers a world all of its own.
23-27 Cecil Ct, London WC2N 4EZ, goldsborobooks.com
