Secondhand and rare books in an old rope warehouse off Cooper’s Yard, Bristol. Eleven rooms of paperbacks at three pounds, and a locked cabinet for the ones that need gloves.
The letters come off. Drag them about.
We have been buying other people’s books since 1979. About forty thousand are on the shelves right now, most for less than a pint. Some are older than the building. A few have notes in the margins that are better than the book.
Twelve books we would hate to see go to the wrong home. Prices are in pencil, as they should be.
The Great Gatsby, with somebody’s homework in it
A 1974 Penguin with a cracked spine and a previous owner who underlined every mention of the green light. In pencil, thankfully.
We pick one book every week and leave it face up by the till. It is usually gone by Thursday.
Four words, pencilled inside the front cover next to the price. The last one is why we are called Foxed.
Fine
As it left the printer. Rare for anything older than you.
Very good
Read with care. A little wear at the edges, nothing inside.
Good
Properly read. Sunned spine, soft corners, maybe a name on the endpaper.
Foxed
Brown spots from age and damp, and the reason for our name. Never stops you reading.
Readings, a zine night and a sale on a green trolley. Small, cheap, and in the back room.
Cut & Paste: a ransom-note zine night
Bring old magazines, we bring glue, scissors and a crate of donated paperbacks you are allowed to destroy. Wine by the glass from the pub next door.
Thu, 7pm · £6Valuation morning
Bring one old book and we will tell you what it is, roughly what it is worth, and whether you should keep it anyway. Usually you should.
Sat, 10am–1pm · freeGhost stories by candlelight
M. R. James read aloud in the back room with the lights off. Forty seats, no phones, mince pies at the interval.
Wed, 7.30pm · £8
- Bring up to two boxes, any weekday morning.
- We look through them while you have a tea.
- You get an offer in cash, or a bit more in shop credit.
Whole libraries too. We come to you, anywhere within an hour of Bristol.