Pendleburys Bookshop

I received an email today from Pendleburys Bookshop in London, asking if I would list their site in my posted links. I have no posted links, but I thought I'd mention them instead in a post. Let me say first that I've never visited their store, have never bought anything from them, and I do not know of and cannot vouch for the quality of their products or services, and I won't be getting any kickbacks for posting this :-) ... but I looked around on the web and they seem reputable, so here's some info about them, from their site ...

Pendleburys Bookshop is one of the largest dealers in secondhand and antiquarian theological books in the United Kingdom with stocks of over 30,000 volumes. 0ur aim is to provide books for the working library of the student, minister and layman and academic books for libraries and those engaged on in-depth study of religion and philosophy. We have a small collection of antiquarian material for the specialist collector. Our stock is housed in part of the premises of a Victorian church in north east London, just 3 miles north of St Pauls Cathedral, where we welcome visitors on week-days excepting Wednesday. Our books cover all aspects of the Christian religion, without denominational bias, comparative religions and philosophy. We also have stocks of secular material which are being added to our website. Founded in 1982, with the help and support of local churches, our business has grown in both size and scope.



The bookshop's site tells of their one moment of fame, back in 1997, when many of their books went missing due to theft. They mentioned their problem to a friend in Spain, and the rest is history ...

He sent us a 'copy' of an ancient curse on book thieves belived to emenate from the Monastery of San Pedro in Barcelona. In a spirit of light hearted amusement we posted the copy throughout our shop and were dumbfounded that it worked. Thefts ceased & books were returned through the post with notes of apology. We wrote a short letter to the Church Times informing them of this phenomenon and asked if any readers knew of a similar curse that might induce sales. We were much surprised when Thursday's copy of the Church Times arrived at our desk, delivered an hour early by the local newsagent with our story on the front page. All very good we thought and rather a laugh. The following morning our newsagent delivered both the Times & Telegraph two hours early as they both contained lead stories about our shop and the bookseller curse. Tuning into Radio Four at 7.00 am we were much taken aback at our names being mentioned first in the press reviews and this was quickly followed by follow up telephone calls from the BBC, ITV, and other independent stations ...


- For him that stealeth a book from this library, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain, crying aloud for mercy and let there be no sur-cease to his agony till he sink in Dissolution. let Bookworms gnaw his entraills in token of the worm that dieth not, and when at last he goeth to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him for evere and aye .... (Yikes!)

For those interested in checking out their website ... PENDLEBURYS BOOKSHOP