We have grouped London's bookshops by postal district, with the exception of WC and EC (West Central and East Central) addresses which we have combined in our "Central" district.

Using the postal district system does mean that shops sometimes thought of as being in "Central London" will appear in the other districts of our guide, but then every system has its downside.

To my knowledge this is the first attempt to list London's secondhand bookshops since Skoob's 2000 guide. We have found a lot less shops than were listed then, particularly in East London where there is now only one, and that's run by a charity.

As TheBookGuide rarely gets the opportunity to visit the capital's bookshops in person, the task of maintaining up-to-date listings is a particularly difficult one, so I'm more than usually reliant on reports and comments from customers and dealers.

Making sure that we know about closures, in particular, really does save the time and temper of lots of visitors, and it's as easy as clicking here

If you run a bookshop in London, just complete a simple online form and you will start to attract new customers. Trade entries in the bookshop directory are free (although we reserve the right to charge a small administration fee in the future).