Our business began in the early 1950s, when the founder and senior partner, Ronnie Hollett, began to tour the country house sales of the period in the North of England, no longer with an eye exclusively for collecting, but to selling books. From the first catalogues rapid progress was made toward the opening of a shop in 1969, where he has remained every since, joined by his son and partner Christopher in 1980. The premises are situated in the old market town of Sedbergh, in the northern extremities of the Yorkshire Dales National Park under the Howgills, a triangle of softly-rounded fells which provide superb walking country.
Since the inception of the business it has been our policy to avoid the cheaper books and paperbacks and concentrate on the private collector’s market. We have now produced nearly 150 catalogues of fine collectable books, both general and on numerous specialised subjects, areas of particular interest being natural history, travel and sporting books, and most particularly North Country history and topography. For many years, we have been members of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association.
Although we no longer operate as a shop open to casual browsers, we welcome clients by appointment at any mutually convenient time. We are currently re-organising our shelves so that we can provide a quiet, congenial atmosphere in which to inspect our entire stock of some 20,000 fine, collectable and antiquarian books on three floors, at prices ranging from £15 to £75,000.
Orders from our printed or on-line catalogues may be placed via this secure site, or by phone, fax or e-mail at any time. The vast majority of our stock can now be browsed or searched from this web-site, and you can download the latest information on a wide range of subjects (see the CATALOGUES section for details).
We buy individual books, small collections or entire libraries and give highest prices for the right material. We also undertake valuations for all purposes - insurance, probate etc. - and to these ends we travel widely throughout the U.K. Please let us know if we can help you in any way. If you do not see precisely what you are looking for in our current catalogues and lists, please advise us either of your permanent requirements or any specific subjects or titles which would be of particular interest, and we will quote you without obligation as soon as we are in a position to help. If you have not purchased books from us within the last three years but would like to remain on our mailing-list for printed catalogues, please let us know.