Clerkenwell Tales
Anna Goodall takes a good look around one of the London’s newest independent bookshops

Clerkenwell Tales is an independent bookshop that opened this year in EC1’s safely fashionable Exmouth Market. Proprietor Peter Ho certainly seems to understand what literary-minded booklovers want, and thus has created a clean airy space, lined with oak shelves and painted in a calm green shade that serves as a blank canvas on which to display the carefully selected stock. As he himself notes, ‘It’s such a small space I essentially have to “curate” what books to sell’.

Design is clearly important to this bookseller, and as someone almost unable to buy a badly designed book even if I want to read it, I couldn’t spot a dud one in there. I’m sure there were one or two hiding on the shelves, but the clean backdrop means that those chosen for display look highly desirable: ‘Friends had slight reservations that it [the green colour] would seem a bit too cold, but I was pretty confident that the colour of the books would give the shop a warm, inviting feel.’ It’s worked a treat.

Ox-Tales, the Oxfam-commissioned four-book series of short stories including tales from Lionel Shriver, John le Carré, DBC Pierre, and Jeanette Winterson, among a host of other big names, greet you as you walk in the door; but soon my eye is caught by the gorgeous new Faber editions of Plath and Eliot; to my left I spot a Vintage Classics edition of The Pickwick Papers with a cover photo of a pair of spindly old-fashioned spectacles curled up upon an inky script-covered page; there’s also an impressive ‘Art & Design’ section, but just before I get there I’m arrested by a striking black and white cover of a couple sitting on a bench, their backs to camera – Kate Ruiphe’s Uncommon Arrangements explores unconventional literary marriages between 1910 and 1935 such as HG and Jude Wells, Katherine Mansfield and John Middleton Murray, and the Bells; and oh dear, are those some lovely Pushkin Press editions I see nestling on the top shelf of the ‘Classics’ section? The wallet is starting to twitch…

When I ask Peter about the design of the shop he replies, ‘Jacket design and illustration is very important and is something I am conscious of along with the quality of the paper, typography, etc. It’s a myth that books sell themselves and I think that over the last five to ten years publishers have certainly thought more about the design values of books across all genres.’ The emphasis here is on the quality of the writing, however, and he’s very clear that he ‘would stock a book [with a bad cover] as long as the content was strong and I could handsell the title.’

Like all the best bookshops, Clerkenwell Tales is a real place for browsers and the way the books have been chosen – recommendations by friends, family and ‘increasingly those of my customers’ as well as Peter’s own choices and favourites – means it is very satisfying to look round, all the books being linked by the thread of genuine and unashamed literary/academic interest and crucially a sense of humour, plus an unabashed appreciation of more popular stuff.

This personal touch, and his commitment to ‘handselling’ allows Peter to choose a far more unusual selection and the poetry section in particular is far better than you could find in any mainstream bookshop with Faber classics and other canonical favourites, alongside poets such as Roddy Lumsden, Luke Kennard and Laura Dockrill. A section entitled ‘Books We Love’ showcases titles as diverse as Any Human Heart, The Leopard, Tamara Drewe, and The Book of Lost Things. The shop also houses a good strong collection of small magazines including Pen Pusher, Slightly Foxed, One-Eye Grey and the newly launched Clerkenwell Other.

Unsurprisingly, Peter is pretty passionate about the benefits of independent bookselling as opposed to the ‘bland, homogenous experience of the high-street.’ But why? ‘Personal recommendations and handselling books because I have read them is very important and customers love to talk about books! […] I can certainly reflect the interests of my customers a lot quicker and hopefully provide a stimulating and inviting environment.’ He goes on to reveal that his bestselling fiction title – All My Friends Are Superheroes by Andy Kaufman – was recommended by his second-ever customer, Karen. ‘Customers feel comfortable when they know they are dealing with a bookseller who reads, is passionate about books and has the time to discuss not just books but pretty much anything (within reason) that is on their minds.’

Read the rest of Anna's report at Pen Pusher magazine.

Thanks to Christchurch bookseller/publisher/flaneur Brian Phillips for bringing this story to my attention.