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Henry Sotheran Ltd

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Henry Sotheran Ltd

One of the longest established antiquarian booksellers in the world. The great American collector of Shakespeare, H.C.

Founded in York in 1761, established in London in 1815, Henry Sotheran Limited has a long and distinguished history. For over 200 years we have been offering unsurpassed opportunities to collectors and enthusiasts, from the purchase of the libraries of Laurence Sterne in 1768, and Charles Dickens in 1870; the complete stock and copyright of the ornithologist and publisher John Gould; to the succes

sful bid in 1980 for the final draft manuscript of Gilbert White's Natural History of Selbourne, bought on behalf of the Gilbert White Museum. Folger, acquired much of his collection, including the Halliwell-Phillipps library, through Sotheran's, and we were agents in the purchase of the world-famous Althorp Library from Earl Spencer for the John Rylands Library in 1892. Throughout our history we have prided ourselves on the quality and condition of our books, and our friendly service. Our premises on Charing Cross Road and Cecil Court are spacious and elegantly appointed, and we welcome regular clients and passers-by alike to wander in and browse our stock in a relaxing and convivial atmosphere.

09/08/2026

📖 Happy Book Lovers Day! Our love of books has been going strong since our founding in 1761.

08/08/2026

'Human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.' - Ernest Hemingway

'A cat’s rage is beautiful, burning with pure cat flame, all its hair standing up and crackling blue sparks, eyes blazing and sputtering.'
― William S. Burroughs, The Cat Inside

😺 Loving cats and loving books often go hand in hand. Happy !📖

04/08/2026

🦉 We think these owl prints are a real hoot ... happy International Owl Awareness Day!

1. JOUVE, Paul. Owl. Original wood engraving for Colette's Paradis Terrestres, Lausanne, Gonin & Cie (1932).
2. HART, William Matthew. Hawk-Owl. Original lithograph with later hand-colouring for Gould's 'Birds of New Guinea and the adjacent Papuan Islands' (1875-88).
3. HART, William Matthew. Salvadori's Hawk-Owl. Original lithograph with later hand-colouring for Gould's 'Birds of New Guinea and the adjacent Papuan Islands' (1875-88).

31/07/2026

🍸️ ‘If everyone knew even a little about the absorbing subject of absorbing alcohol there would be even less Prohibition in the United States of America than there is now.’

🕰️ On this day in 1923, the British government banned the sale of alcohol to under-18s. Seven years later, the United States introduced Prohibition, banning the production, import, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages.

🍹 The author of the iconic Savoy Cocktail Book, Harry Craddock, left America and instead joined the American Bar at London's Savoy Hotel, becoming one of the most famous bartenders of the 1920s and 1930s.

📚️ CRADDOCK, Harry; Gilbert RUMBOLD (illustrator). The Savoy Cocktail Book. London: Constable & Company. 1930.

https://buff.ly/wnKVbfm

30/07/2026

🪡 Happy World Embroidery Day! This 1798 German almanack has been handsomely bound in an embroidered binding bearing the crowned cypher of King George III, who was also Elector of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

📆 The almanack features a calendar, followed by a register of thousands of members of the Royal Electoral Ministry (featuring an orchestra, three librarians, a copper-engraver, and a bookbinder) and of local administration throughout Lower Saxony, including an index of physicians; also listed are university professors,cloisters and monasteries detailing the names of dozens of nuns, and an index of nobles and their lands.

🎂 The almanack also includes the names and birth dates of George III, Queen Charlotte, and their children, as well as those of several influential noble families throughout Germany, also noting the religious denomination of each family.

📕 [ALMANACK.] Königl. Groß-Brittannischer und Churfürstl. Braunschweig-Lüneburgscher Staats-Kalender auf das Jahr 1798. Lauenburg: [Eberhard Friedrich Justus Heinrich Berenberg]. 1798.

https://buff.ly/TL4sJvU

27/07/2026

🐑 Details from our latest ba-a-a-tch of New Acquisitions, now available to browse on our website!

📚️ Discover books from the sixteenth century to the twentieth, hand-picked and newly catalogued by our booksellers. Among them you will find photographs of sheepskin slippers photographed by Lee Miller's assistant; annotated astronomy and a friendship-destroying Italian grammar; a pocket-sized Hebrew Bible and a prayerbook in fourteen languages; poems on weddings and devastating floods, and an analogue precursor to generative poetry; as well as presentation copies from the likes of Cyril Connolly, Alan Paton, Robert van Gulik, and Marie Stopes.

1. BARNARD, Mary; Roland HAUPT and Maurice AMBLER (photographers). The Sheepskin Book. [c. 1949–51.]
2. MANTEL, Hilary [The Wolf Hall Trilogy:] Wolf Hall; The Mirror & the Light; Bring Up the Bodies. 2009–2020.
3. DARLING, Charles, 1st Baron Darling; Austin Osman SPARE (illustrator). On the Oxford Circuit and Other Verses. 1909.
4. [HEBREW BIBLE.] יהושע ושופטים [Joshua and Judges.] 5377 (i.e. 1616 or 1617).
5. SACROBOSCO, Johannes de; Elie VINET. Sphaera Ioannis de Sacro Bosco, emendata. 1562.

19/07/2026

⚽️ It may not be coming home, but it'll be a game worth watching!

1. ANON. The Beautiful Game. Original wood type poster printed on Somerset England watermarked wove paper. (c. Late 20th Century)
2. ANON. Football advertisement. Original colour lithograph. (c. 1950)

17/07/2026

⚔️ 597 years ago today, Joan of Arc stood at the altar of Reims Cathedral in full armour, banner in hand, as Charles VII was crowned King of France.

⚜️ Swipe for an 1803 stipple engraving of Joan of Arc in an 1803 collection of 'eccentric biographies' of remarkable women, a sneak peek from our forthcoming New Acquisitions list.

💌 Sign up to our mailing list to be the first to hear about this & several other freshly catalogued highlights from our shelves: https://sotherans.co.uk/pages/subscribe

12/07/2026

🎾 Depictions of tennis that we just *love* in honour of the final day of Wimbledon! 🍓

1. C.J.S. Opening of the New Prince's Club, by The Prince of Wales. (1889)
2. BRODERS, Roger. Monte-Carlo. (1930)
3. AM. Charles Delahaye holding a Real Tennis Racket. (1870)
4. DORE, Gustave. Joueurs de Paume au Jardin du Luxembourg. (1868)
5. ANON. Le Jeu de Paume. (Facsimile of c. 1785 engraving)

09/07/2026

🌞 The latest heat wave has us all yearning for a trip to the French Riviera ...

1. Hotel Le Provencal, Juan-Les-Pins (A.M). c. 1935.
2. Grand Hotel de La Poste, Nice. c. 1925.
3. Hotel Belles Rives-Juan-Les-Pins. c. 1935.

Discover a curated selection of vintage luggage labels from Monte Carlo and the south of France: https://buff.ly/QEyfjQW

Address

22 Charing Cross Road
London
WC2H0HS

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 6pm
Tuesday	10am - 6pm
Wednesday	10am - 6pm
Thursday	10am - 6pm
Friday	10am - 6pm

Telephone

+442074396151

Website

https://www.sotherans.co.uk/, https://www.instagram.com/sotheranslondon/, https://aba.org.uk/profile/2736/Henry-Sotheran

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