GfB, the Colchester Bookshop

20/08/2026

🎬 Action!

Customers and other visitors to GfB yesterday, including a tour guide party, had a bit more excitement than usual, having to negiotiate lights, cameras, tripods, cables, and other paraphernalia around the shop.
We have been happy in the past to allow students to film in the shop, (plus Instagrammers, of course), but this was the first time that we have been used as a location on a commercial basis.
We can't reveal what it was for, yet, but will share the result when we can...

15/08/2026

"Tymperleys off Trinity Street, claimed as the house of William Gilberd (d. 1603), incorporates the 15th-century timber-framed parlour range of a house of which the hall was probably immediately to the east and parallel to the street... The hall was demolished in the 16th or 17th century,..."

For all its faults, (the medieval hall roof survives in the bookshop), Volume IX of the VCH History of Essex remains the most useful and comprehensive history of Colchester available.

But how many copies is too many?
(We have yet another coming in!)

13/08/2026

Trust Raphael Tuck and Sons to produce the most splendid, and large, literary and painting prize competition bookplate.

12/08/2026

Thank you to whoever nominated us for "Indie Retailer" of the year in the Colchester Business Awards 2026. We really do appreciate it and, since there has been no shortlisting process, we are one of the 30+ independent shops that you can vote for this year. All of which are very worthy!

However - and it's a big however - we are not fans of business awards. What we value are all the very kind comments made in the bookshop and online, and (of course) all our returning customers, however frequently or infrequently you come to see us. This is our reward.

By all means vote for us, but - as we explained to a visitor kind enough to do so this morning - we will not be attending any awards events. We don't have the time, or the suit, and we would rather spend the money on more stock, or a nice bottle to drink at home!

PS. We voted for Red Lion Books, if you must know 🙂.

The Book Guide II.

01/08/2026

Continuing the Penguin theme, here are the latest of the classic cover design added to stock.

This copy of number 12, "The Purple Land" by W. H. Hudson, is a first printing and one of the second batch of ten Penguin Books published in October 1935 with the original "fat penguin" logo.

The Book Guide II.

31/07/2026

Thanks to a last minute customer from Cambridgeshire, last month was the busiest July on record in the bookshop. In fact, of the last twelve calendar months, eight were the best on record. (June was definitely a blip!)

We read so many reports from other bookshops around the country, and other local shops, that sales are in some kind of terminal decline that (sometimes) we are driven to point out that this is not our experience. We do not doubt most of these worrying reports and we certainly sympathise but, at the same time, we need to make clear that we are not exaggerating or trying to boost our egos - as has been suggested!

If we knew exactly what it was that we are apparently getting right, then it would be helpful, but we don't. What we like to believe is that it is because we are constantly working to improve both the atmosphere of the shop and the stock it offers.

Let's hope that all our trends continue, and that all those other shops manage to find answers to their problems and ways to thrive.

The Book Guide II.

30/07/2026

Penguin Books are virtually ubiquitous wherever there are books, and we have a lot in stock all the time, including the original issues - of which a photo is scheduled to be posted soon!

But some are more ubiquitous than others, so here is a selection of the rarer and more unusual titles that have just arrived.

The Book Guide II.

29/07/2026

In the latest batch heading for the shelves ... this good little collection of William S. Burroughs.

Until now, we hadn't realised that the working title of "Ju**ie" was simply "Junk", and that it was later retitled "J***y". In fact, Penguin's 50th anniversary reissue was entitled, maybe confusingly, "J***y: The Definitive Text of "Junk"."

The Book Guide II.

29/07/2026

If the response wasn't already so impressive, then we might have suggested fundraising for a specific project rather than a general plea for help. Otherwise, we might all start doing the same!

And, we must point out that, from our own experience, the upsides of having your own independent shop vastly outweigh the downsides.

'The last few years have been really hard, not just for us, but pretty much every small business I speak to'

18/07/2026

In the same lot there is, of course, a good selection of George Orwell. For some reason, we seem to get a disproportionate number of the Penguin volumes of his Collected Essays.