Henry Pordes Books

As a PhD student in English Literature, I have been searching for a book store that is both cheap in price and diverse in subjects. Henry Pordes Books is the answer. I spent nearly two hours in this small haven. Upstairs have Romantic/​Impressionist/​Modern art collections as well as books on history. The basement is definitely the highlight. It contains fiction, poetry, plays, and philosophy. Fiction ranges from mainly 18^th century sentimental/​gothic genres to 19^th century Victorian classics, but there are some postmodern novels (You can get a Bukowski novel for only 4 pounds). Poetry is mostly Romantic (Wordsworth, Keats, Blake, Burns, Byron). The Wordsworth classics offer extremely affordable price for students. For plays, you can find quite a number of works by Irish (Beckett, O’Casey, Synge) as well as certain Russian playwrights (Chekhov, Nabokov, Tolstoy). Of course, they have Shakespeare’s plays. Each only costs 2 pounds. Philosophy is a mixture of a bit of everything, which ranges from Rousseau to American transcendentalists. The only suggestion I would give to the bookstore is that it does not have many 20 century modernist poetry and classics. Aside from Auden’s collection of longer poems, it does not even have anything on Eliot, Pound, Stevens, Williams… but you can still find gems here! I highly recommend everyone to come here and buy a book home to read!

Went next door to Any Amount of Books looking for science fiction and was disappointed that they didn’t have any. Came in here and at least they had a small selection of newly printed sci-​fi. Staff were friendly and helpful too.

Wow. This place is better than any book chain shop. I just like the feel of this place. And they’ve got tons of really interesting books. I couldn’t see any Stephen King so I asked if they had any. The guy came back from the stock room with 3 Stephen King novels. I bought ‘Skeleton Crew’ .a collection of short stories! Amazing!

One of the better second hand bookshops on the Charing Cross Road; good art and rare books section in particular. Tucked away in the back there is a somewhat haphazard history section, heavily slanted towards the military end of things, and notable for the presence of a lot of those weighty and esoteric Jane’s tomes. If you must have a copy of Jane’s Merchant Fleet 1996 – 97, this is a good place to look for it.

This is a bibliophiles wonderland. I was looking for the perfect engagement gift for my fiancé and they couldn’t have been more helpful. They had an impressive knowledge of the specific prints and a great selection. If you are looking for god quality rare books this is the place to go.

A brilliant second hand bookshop, great for finding old classics! The staff know their stock, too, and are great to ask for help with anything. A huge variety of subjects, well organised. Great for browsing.

I love all of the second hand bookshops around here; i often peruse the shelves imagining that i was in my vast personal library, not a shop. Henry Pordes has a personal feel that promotes this feeling.
The staff are typical bookshops owners, eccentric intellectuals who seem to sit and debate the day away — how wonderful! I went in looking for a present for my teenage cousin, hoping to find her something to share my love of literature, but was unsure what. I was assisted by an amazing gentlemen who knew every book in there back to front, his knowledge was simply astonishing and made me feel wholeheartedly ignorant. I came out with a rare Carol Ann Duffy first edition — i even managed to barter the price!
I would highly recommend this bookshop to anyone, from book lovers to occasional readers.

Like many of the secondhand bookshops around these parts, Henry Pordes covers a wide gamut of genres in its small space. Everything from leatherbound first editions of Milton and Kavanagh to new, hardcover art books are featured in its front window. I visited with a specific genre in mind — Mongolian travel writing. Pordes was the first independently owned place I found that stocked anything of interest so I can recommend it to anyone seeking out that difficult and particular title. For less serious bookworms, it is also as good as any of the bookshops around here for whiling away time browsing.