A Miscellany of British Bookshops

Marisa Giannasi has amassed thousands of followers on instagram who delight in her beautiful, characterful watercolour sketches of British bookshops.

A Miscellany of British Bookshops is a heartfelt, community-led project featuring gorgeous watercolour sketches of over 100 of the UK’s most beloved bookshops, alongside stories about the shops and the booksellers who create and curate them.

Inspired by Marisa’s time painting bookshop window displays and interacting with booksellers, and guided in her choice of shops by the passionate recommendations of their loyal customers, this is a celebration of the invaluable role bookshops play as community havens: promoting literacy, bringing people together, and offering quiet moments of solace.

Organized by region and peppered with incidental illustrations sparked by her encounters inside bookshops (including bookshop pets, bookshop ghosts and bookshop mascots), this beautiful, giftable hardback namechecks several hundred shops in a collective celebration of bookselling and book buying.

It will bring joy to anyone who treasures bookshops, who has ever dreamed of working in one, or who wants to be inspired to go out and discover the many bookselling gems located across the UK.