The Sanctuary Bookshop

18/11/2025

18/11/2025

My name is Jessica, and I’ve worked for about seven years in Bob Speer’s Sanctuary Bookshop in Lyme Regis.
As you may know, after twenty five years, Bob has decided to retire and sell the bookshop.
Working in the Sanctuary I’ve come to appreciate how important it is, both to local residents and to the many visitors from afar who regularly come back to Lyme just to browse its shelves.
So, I’m starting a campaign to buy it. My aim is keep the unique spirit of Bob’s creation alive, but also to grow it as a business in new ways that will profit, and serve all those who value the cultural contribution it makes.

On Wednesday November 26th, 4.30 – 7pm (2025) there will be an informal meet and greet at the shop for anyone who wants to find out more and/or contribute in any way, and for wish-lists and ideas generation.
Mulled w**e and mince pies will be on offer; first come first served.

My only ask is, if you would please read the list below of possible avenues of growth, and forward this invite to anyone relevant, i.e. with a love of books, writing, and or, a concern in keeping The Sanctuary Bookshop open.

Kindest regards
Jessica Easter

The Sanctuary Bookshop, 65 Broad Street, Lyme, DT7 3QF.

in no particular order of importance:
Writing workshops
Bookbinding/making
Journaling for health, story inspiration, and more.
Arts, and traditional, Country Crafts
Gallery for works produced thus
Book tidying for calm
Author talks
Murder mystery evenings
Bedtime storytelling for adults
Rare Book Group
Local learning/research resource
Small music/film studio
Adopt an old unloved book
Air BnB
Home Education/Self – Directed Learning Venue
Fossil/Ghost walk stop off point
Social Media engagement
The Sanctuary Bookshop TV channel
Small libraries network
&tc

25/06/2022

This weird engine is the 18th century equivalent to have a lot of tabs open in your web browser!
It allowed researchers to work efficiently with up to 8 open books at the same time. I guess that the old saying "if it looks stupid but it works, then it's not stupid" applies in this case 😂

14/06/2021

books books books - under cover, at a castle, what more could we want?! We will be there. Come along.

11/12/2020

I am a freak for the American road trip. And I'm not alone, as some of this country's best writers have taken a shot at describing that quintessentially...

04/06/2020

Saturday 16th May 2020.
“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by”.
Douglas Adams.
Say one read a book a day…that’s 400 in a year of lockdown.
But even that’s only 4000 in a decade...and there’s ten times that number here.
And so it was I came across Douglas Adams and George Burns to share with you...

“The Works of Ovid. The Art of Love, etc".An unexpected discovery was five pages of neat contemporary manuscript commentary at the rear of Volume 11, but in Latin (see three images above). This had previously been overlooked. Our colleague and Latin scholar Bijan Omrani is currently attempting a t...

19/05/2020

I received this communication from our most excellent Bob Speer.....(who is lucky enough to still be in the shop obviously).... And so it was, with time on our hands, we went down into our basement…and area of some five rooms below ground, two under the adjacent council car park. Amongst all the clutter of tools, wiring, empty containers, w**e bottles, etc., we found several unopened boxes of treasure from 1997, the year we arrived in Lyme.

Inside? A wonderful run of 46 Issues of “Picture Post”, starting with Issue Number 1 for October the 1st 1938, and finishing with the issue for February 1st 1947. These make fascinating reading in the lead up to WW2. Also: Some rare books by occultist Austin Osman Spare and a collection of lenses and photographic material. Hopefully, these will all surface and join our shop clutter, as soon as normality returns.

08/05/2020

Ooh!

Long before Amazon, Audible, and other digital book distributors, bookmobiles were bringing literature to peoples' doorsteps. Their mission was to provide the written word to remote villages and city suburbs that had no libraries. We invite you to remember these forgotten four-wheelers of the past.

27/04/2020

Yes, we are still taking orders. Please phone, email or message with your book requests, and Bob will go on a hunt for you. Stay posted for a list of book genres we have available. Or if you're after something rather unique and extra special go to our Abe page for our rarer gems.

The Sanctuary Bookshop.: Lyme Regis, United Kingdom