Daunt Books is a chain of bookshops in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, founded in 1990 by

James Daunt Achilles James Daunt (born 18 October 1963) is a British businessman. He is the founder of the Daunt Books chain, and since May 2011 has been managing director of the bookshop chain Waterstones. Since August 2019, Daunt has also been CEO of Bar ...

. It originally specialised in travel books. In 2010, it began publishing. James Daunt later became CEO of

Waterstones Waterstones, formerly Waterstone's, is a British book retailer that operates 311 shops, mainly in the United Kingdom and also other nearby countries. As of February 2014, it employs around 3,500 staff in the UK and Europe. An average-sized Wa ...

and the US bookstore chain

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 U. ...

Bookshops

Daunt Books was founded in 1990 by former banker

with the purchase of a bookshop on

Marylebone High Street Marylebone High Street is a shopping street in London, running sub-parallel to Baker Street and terminating at its northern end at the junction with Marylebone Road. Given its secluded location, the street has been described as "the hidden wond ...

. It now focuses on first-hand titles (especially travel-related material). The Marylebone branch is housed in a former

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

bookshop with long oak galleries, graceful skylights and

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

prints. The older section of the Marylebone shop was completed in 1912, and was originally an antiquarian bookshop called Francis Edwards. It is alleged to be the first custom-built bookshop in the world. A large, walk-in safe is visible near the entrance to the travel gallery, and is where expensive volumes were once stored. The company has branches in

Holland Park Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that contains a street and public park of the same name. It has no official boundaries but is roughly bounded by Kensington High Street to the south, Holland Road ...

Cheapside Cheapside is a street in the City of London, the historic and modern financial centre of London, which forms part of the A40 London to Fishguard road. It links St. Martin's Le Grand with Poultry. Near its eastern end at Bank junction, where ...

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

and

Belsize Park Belsize Park is an affluent residential area of Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden (the inner north-west of London), England. The residential streets are lined with mews houses and Georgian and Victorian villas. Some nearby localities ar ...

. The Owl Bookshop in

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the ope ...

was bought by Daunt Books, but retains its original name. Daunt Books opened its first branch outside London in

Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The population was 15, ...

, Essex, under the name Hart's Books. It opened its second branch outside London in

Marlow, Buckinghamshire Marlow (; historically Great Marlow or Chipping Marlow) is a town and civil parish within the Unitary Authority of Buckinghamshire, England. It is located on the River Thames, south-southwest of High Wycombe, west-northwest of Maidenhead and ...

, under the name The Marlow Bookshop, followed by a branch in

Summertown, Oxford Summertown in North Oxford is a suburb of Oxford, England. Summertown is a one-mile square residential area, north of St Giles, the boulevard leading out of Oxford's city centre. Summertown is home to several independent schools and the city's m ...

. Specialising in travel, Daunt Books arranges its sections geographically, with guides, phrasebooks,

travel writing Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel can ...

, history and fiction grouped by their relevant country. Reviews have mentioned its customer service and knowledgeable staff. Each branch organises talks by authors, with discussions. Daunt also hosts the Daunt Books Festival held annually in the spring.

Publishing

In 2010, Daunt Books launched a publishing venture with Saki's ''Improper Stories'', and has since republished many other out-of-print and new books. It publishes

literary fiction Literary fiction, mainstream fiction, non-genre fiction or serious fiction is a label that, in the book trade, refers to market novels that do not fit neatly into an established genre (see genre fiction); or, otherwise, refers to novels that are ch ...

and

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

, including both forgotten titles and new works.Allen, Katie (4 March 2011). "Daunt turns publisher to mark Bedford’s centenary". ''The Bookseller''. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
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References

External links

Official site
{{coord, 51.52048, N, 0.15190, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title 1990 establishments in England Bookshops of the United Kingdom Book selling websites British booksellers Bookshops in London Marylebone Travel books Publishing companies of England

Bookshops

Publishing

See also

References

External links