Luath Press is one of a few independent book publishers in Edinburgh. It is not as well known as…read moreCanongate Press, but that does not mean that it does not publish great books. My interest in this publisher is that it offers a great range of books on issue of Scottish politics. It has published books by former First Minister Henry McLeish and Tom Brown on the future of Scotland (Scotland the Road Divides is a great read if you are into constitutional politics), whilst Lesley Riddoch has published a book about the future of the Gaelic culture (A very riveting read). Luath Press started off in the field of travel books, and this genre is still one of the bedrocks of the company, with guides detailing the different parts of Scotland. Go on grab yourself some Scottish literature!

From the owner: Luath Press are award-winning book publishers based in the heart of Scotland's historic capital…read more Fiction, poetry, history, politics, travel, art, walking and much more.

I bought the book Guantanamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi directly from Canongate via their…read morewebsite, as they were offering a discount offer with the release of the book. I am delighted by their service: not only did the book arrive extremely quickly, but they offer a free extra book with every online purchase! Not only did I receive a handpicked book to go alongside my purchased title (Redeployment by Phil Klay), but they also wrote me a lovely and thoughtful handwritten note (by Jo) with it! Such high class service in this day and age!! I am delighted. PS - the two books were also excellent too, five stars for each of those also! (for my full review visit the relevant titles on Goodreads).

Throughout my time in Edinburgh I have obtained a habit of visiting old second hand book shops,…read moreinfluenced by my habit of reading. And through my reading I have come to appreciate one of the most well known publishers in Edinburgh, Canongate Books. Set up in the 1990s, it is not as large as the mainstream publishers, but through time Canongate has emerged as one of the best places for writers to publish their books. The company promotes new writers as well as old ones, whilst also keeping that distinct Scottish character. They have also branched out by publishing books by Nick Cave and soon will publish the first book by Dizzee Rascal! (Not bad for small independent publishers). If you want a read, then Canongate will have a lot to offer!

If you are student in Edinburgh or have been you would of come across those lecturers and tutors…read morewho always like to advertise the fact that they have some books available to buy (and that they are crucial for you passing that course!). Well, one place which publishes the books of these very people is Edinburgh University Press! Yes, this publishing press have books which cover most academic interests. They also publish academic journals as well. I have read books from this publishers mostly related to Scottish affairs, and they seem to have a good selection of experts in that field writing for them. One word of warning though, academic books are quite expensive, so enquire into the price before you buy!

This oxfam is one of the best charity shops in the areas for books although this comes at a cost as…read moreit is also one of the more expensive charity shops for books in the area. Personally I think the extra money is worth it in the quality of books you get here. Of the book sections you obviously have fiction books and this is a good selection of good fiction books (you often get a lot of rubbish in some charity shops), but the standout sections are the Biographies, Education and Travel section. If you are into books and want specific types of books rather than just wanting a book to pass the time this will be more your shop. If you are the latter then there are cheaper places to go. I would recommend coming here, being more of the former, as the books here are great books - just the other day I got an autobiography and a cook book I'd wanted for ages, both the sort of books that don't come around very often and I was greatful for them even though they did cost a fair bit more than books elsewhere.

This is one of the two Oxfam shops on Clerk Street, which sells books, whilst the other specialises…read morein clothing. I'm always impressed at how organized both shops are, and it's so pleasant to be in there an hour can pass without one really noticing. On a recent visit, the books of the display shelf made me giggle; they were copies of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer! With the new movie Ecilpse in cinemas, any other book store would have done the same, and you get the feeling Oxfam's attempting to narrow the gap so that shoppers can feel as though they're in a first hand bookshop! I did wish I'd come here when I started my Twilight collection, as I'd have saved a lot of money; most of the books in here are in fantastic condition, and at an average of £2 a copy, any frayed pages will certainly be overlooked by me!

Another brilliant independent bookshop for children - and their parents! - is The Children's…read moreBookshop in Bruntsfield. Established in 2007, it's a quirky shop with bright and colourful books enticingly displayed on wooden bookshelves and tables. There's picture books and alphabet books for toddlers, short stories and educational aids for four, five and six year olds and a mix of fiction and illustrated books for school children. If you look closely you'll also find, science fiction and young adult novels for teenagers. A labour of love, TCB is owned and run by Vanessa and Malcolm Robertson - who also run childrens publishing company Fidra Books. Their fingerprints are clearly all over the shop from the imaginative window displays to regular events with high profile authors like Neil Gaiman and Cathy Cassidy. If only I was seven again...

This shop is definitely one of a kind in Edinburgh. It's a really quality bookshop with both…read morefiction and nonfiction, hardback and paperback and the most thoughtful staff ever. I definitely recommend talking to the staff, 'cause they're really passionate and really quite frighteningly knowledgeable. A friend of mine worked there for a bit and she said that during her interview they grilled her a la interrogation-blinding-light style on her knowledge of literature. Which is quite comforting, because I do get bit put off a bookshop when they don't know as much as I do about literature (being a meager English Lit. graduate). And it definitely demonstrates the kind of passion you don't often find anymore. The bookshop itself is very clean and tidy (so don't go there expecting one of those second-hand bookshops you could get lost in), and their books are obviously carefully picked out. It's admittedly pricey, but if you can afford to give to an independent book seller, than you should (just for the sake of keeping the business going).

How cool in the midst of craziness there is a huge book festival! It is everyday from 11am til…read more11pm. Many lectures for about 12£ with book signing. Some free lectures and each evening in the Edinburgh gin garden is drinking and entertainment til 11pm. Differently will need to come back!

Denied entry with paid tickets due to being a few minutes late…read more August 2023 Birthday outing ruined as Edinburgh book Festival event organizers and authors won't tolerate fee-paid people who arrive a few minutes late

Really pleased to have found this shop while in Edinburgh! Picked up a couple manga and some…read morefigures with my friend, we looked it up later and found out that I guess the Kitagawa he got was a UK exclusive and only £25 so this made it extra special for us given that we are from the US. Didn't interact much with the staff other than the fact that the cashier accidentally put an extra figure in our bag, which we realized and handed back to him before leaving. He seemed very friendly though

Came here looking for Pokemon cards for the kids or possibly a small souvenir. They didn't have any…read morecards and despite a pretty large merchandise section the thing they had the most of was comics. The comics were all retail and all of the merchandise was fairly priced. We didn't have a lot of space for presents but my kid was eyeballing a trade paperback. I liked how they had a curated display of comics but my favorite part was an independent small publisher section from companies I've never heard about before. They had toys, plushies, and funko pops along the right side of the store. Pretty good mix of lots of different items and franchises but not enough if you are a collector of something specific. I think this store started in NY but have expanded globally, there were a steady stream of people coming in and staff was helpful and kind when I asked for Pokemon cards. There were some places that seemed irritated after hearing the same question for the 20th time that day.

Ahhhh LOVED this bookstore. As an avid reader, I was drawn to literature like any woman who lives…read morein Booktok would be. The store is cute, cramped and smells like old books. It was perfect. I even overheard a women say the first edition Hobbit was £925!!! We weren't greeted, but who is when you walk into a quiet, moody bookshop. I for one, don't want anyone talking to me when I am browsing. The books were an array of prices- ranging from high to low.

I completely forgot to review this place! It's one of the nicest used books store I've seen in my…read morelife. Edinburgh is filled with all these lovely stores and shops I just can't. This little book store is what I imagine other used bookstores wish they could be. I don't even want to buy a book there because then it would disturb the order of things. It's small but perfect for a bookworm to read a book in the corner and enjoy being surrounded by books.

Edinburgh was our first stop for spending two months in the UK. We showed up with very limited…read morebooks and games because of limited packing space. We always intended to replenish our books and games while we were here, but Blackwell's made it fun and easy. It seems like Blackwell's is just a great bookstore all-around, but it's particularly notable for the fact that the basement is devoted entirely to kids books and games. They had basically every board game you could as for and were willing to help us think about how to pick them out. We wound up getting a copy of Carcassonne (which we have at home) and Cascadia (which I'm excited to try). We also got a few new kids picture books and a book of short stories and poems which will make for good bedtime reading. My wife also picked up a few fantasy novels.

I've been a huge fan of this bookshop for many many years, and would make the effort to visit it…read moreany time I was in the vicinity to feed my reading addiction. Since the advent of the Kindle, I don't visit as often and that makes me rather sad, because Blackwell's is a great bookstore and a cool place just to browse around soaking up the literary vibes. I love the labyrinth of different rooms and secret corners where you can find the most surprising things from board games to desk toys, DVD's, maps, children's books and even a Caffe Nero at the back. Upstairs they have a vast selection of academic books, and it is this connection with the nearby University that probably keeps this bookshop alive in face of the competition from Amazon and e-books. I still love visiting here even though I'm less often inclined to buy a fiction book (most of my fiction is on Kindle these days), as they still have some interesting finds to discover that you won't find elsewhere. I love their selection of stocking-filler type gifts, their eclectic CD and DVD offerings, their board games (Carcassonne, anyone?), and of course the Caffe Nero.

This is a rather strange shop in that you access it by heading up a staircase wedged between the…read moretwo adjacent shops up to an upstairs shop. The shop itself specialises in Christian Literature so if this is not your thing then this is probably not your type of shop. The books it does stock do cover a reasonable range from Bible Study books to lifestyle guides with a few more extreme books littered around warning of the coming apocalypse, but these may be forgiven for they only appear to be here because the owners are determined to cover every possible genre they could think of. Generally, you cannot fault it because it does very admirably cover the whole range with no subject too unimportant or omitted. If Christian Literature is what you are after then this is your shop, but if not it won't be. I assume more people fall into the latter category hence the 3 stars despite this shop being very good at what it does.

I seemed to have a slightly different experience from Robert…read more When I visited Mccall Barbours book shop, I was not confronted with much variation in genre, but an overwhelming number of titles trying to convince me of impending Armageddon, that humanists are all evil, or that Jesus' oddly caucasion shiny white face will be literally returning soon. This Christian book shop seems to specialise in cheaply published evangelical books that mostly certain around the theme of the end of the world, sinners, and sinners at the end of the world. I wouldn't have a problem with a Christian book shop covering some of this unfortunate aspect of Christian culture, but do we need so much? Especially when so much of it is the same, and from what I read, badly written? This stuff is a satire of itself. Admitedly there are the usual range of Bible publications that you would expect, and if you want to choose from a wide selection this probably isn't a bad place. I didn't find many deep analyses of medieval theologians, or books on the metaphysics of religion, so there wasn't much for me. I'm not really interested in the overwhelming amount of evangelical writings that seem to only appeal to the already converted. I think the problem with this place is that it doesn't have much appeal to the non-Christian, but neither does it appeal to a range of Christian denominations either. Perhaps I went in on a day when the owner was feeling grumpy and spiteful and intentionally laid out books to try and (literally) frighten the hell out of me. Maybe next time I will find a more stimulating range.