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Barter Books is a second-hand bookshop in the historic English market town of 
Barter Books has also been subject to crime on occasion. On 3 May 2007 a local newspaper, the '' Northumberland Gazette'', reported that a book worth over £2,000 was returned to the book shop 5 years after it was stolen.
Barter Books hit the headlines in 2000 when the owner discovered, in a box of old books bought at an auction, a What Crisis? Keep Calm and Carry On: The Poster we Can't Stop Buying
- The Guardian
Barter Books is a second-hand bookshop in the historic English market town of Alnwick
Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116.
The town is on the south bank of the River Aln, south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish bor ...
, Northumberland
Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey.
It is bordered by land on ...
, owned and run by Stuart and Mary Manley. It has over 350,000 visitors a year, 40% of whom are from outside the area, and is one of the largest second-hand bookshops in Europe. It is considered a local tourist attraction and has been described as "the British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
of second-hand bookshops."
The bookshop is in the Victorian Alnwick railway station
Alnwick railway station was the terminus of the Alnwick branch line, which diverged from the East Coast Main Line at Alnmouth in Northumberland, Northern England. The branch fully opened on 19 August 1850 but was used by a special train on 6 ...
, designed by William Bell and opened in 1887. The station was in use until the closure of the Alnwick branch line
The Alnwick branch line is a partly closed railway line in Northumberland, northern England. A heritage railway currently operates a mile of the line, which originally ran from Alnmouth railway station, on the East Coast Main Line, to the town o ...
in 1968; Barter Books was opened in 1991.
The shop is notable for its use of a barter system, whereby customers can exchange their books for credit against future purchases; standard cash purchases are also available.
Barter Books has also been subject to crime on occasion. On 3 May 2007 a local newspaper, the '' Northumberland Gazette'', reported that a book worth over £2,000 was returned to the book shop 5 years after it was stolen.
Barter Books hit the headlines in 2000 when the owner discovered, in a box of old books bought at an auction, a World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
poster from 1939. The slogan, "Keep Calm and Carry On
''Keep Calm and Carry On'' was a motivational poster produced by the Government of the United Kingdom in 1939 in preparation for World War II. The poster was intended to raise the morale of the British public, threatened with widely predi ...
", and the simple design have turned it into an international phenomenon; and it has been on the walls of places as diverse as Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
, 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along wi ...
and the US Embassy in Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
.- The Guardian
See also
* Book trade in the United KingdomReferences
External links
* {{Authority control Alnwick Bookshops of England Bookstores established in the 20th century