Colin Page Books

Very helpful shop and soooooo well stocked. Colin has previously assessed and paid for books of value before we have placed them out on a bookstall. He has ALWAYS paid top price and is a charming person. The shop is in the heart of Brighton’s shopping area and easily accessible.

This ia a bookshop above bookshops and certainly the kind of place you don’t see so often these days. Don’t expect trendy music, a in store coffee bar or the latest fiction or Jordan biography. What you can expect are shelves well stocked with leather bound tomes and grimoires covering most fiction and non fiction genres.
I am a bit of a collector of random metaphysical texts and such like and can spend hours in here searching through the shelves for something out of the ordinary. Usually, anything I come across is in my price range also, which is always nice. The gentlemen running the store are also very nice and always patient to indulge a heavy browser like myself. Sadly, I rarely walk in here with a clear title I am hunting for, but I get the impression that if this was the case they would be very helpful in sourcing a copy for me.
If you are more into your contemporary paperback, they also have a selection of reasonably priced title out the front of the store and I have picked up a few bargains here by sorting through the fruit boxes. If you are in the city and after a title, you would do well to keep this place in mind.

What a fantastic bookshop this is. You can spend hours just going through the shelves, going through books one-​by-​one, in hopes of finding that rarity.
I almost fell down their spiral staircase, but that has more to do with my clumsiness than with the quality of the store. Downstairs, you’ll find the classic novels, poetry books, theatre books, philosophy books, historical books, children’s books — just an amazing selection of rare, and not so rare, titles to choose from. The best part for me is finding the Collected Letters of Henry James. It’s in 2 volumes, and I had trouble finding both books. Well, I was able to find them both here, and I got them for an amazingly cheap price. This is a place where you’ll want to go through the shelves slowly. They might just have the rarity you’re looking for.

An Aladdin’s cave for bibliophile’s this shop is the antithesis of ‘Black Books’. The staff are friendly, helpful and polite and the stock is sensibly shelved and reasonably priced.
Current collectibles included the eleven volumes of The Diary of Sam Pepys (£180); athree volume Folio Society edition Vasari’s Lives of Painters (£60) and Churchill’s 12-​volume The Second World War (£10).

A nice bookshop especially good for 20^th Century British fiction, I picked up some great Isherwood books here for a bargain, I love that man. Placed on Duke Street it’s nice to amble through the musty shelves for a while and take in some much needed dust after suffering all those polished Perspex surfaces in other shops. Whilst none of the second-​hand bookshops in Brighton seem to specialize in any area of Philosophy, apparently they have a store off site which is very very good for lots of things but I am yet to explore that and wasn’t provided with any information on its existence when I visited. Perhaps its an urban myth.

Colin Page’s is a very cool bookshop in the Lanes, selling antiques as well as a couple of second hand classics and the like. It’s not that great for fiction, theatre or modern art books (9/​10ths of my bookshelf), so I don’t come here very often, but it’s the sort of place I can imagine liking more as I age and the books I like start to grace its shelves. It’s not young, it’s certainly not hip or cool, but it is impressive to behold, and a great place to find hidden gems.
What I have looked for, and enjoyed the selection of, is non-​fiction here. There are a huge variety of old classics here, especially in the psychology section: all of the classics are here, and in ample quantities. I suppose this is the kind of shop to look for strange old books over looking for modern and exciting pieces, but since that really isn’t me… I’d recommend it if it’s you though.

If there’s ever a place in which you’re likely to loose a few hours it’s Colin Page Antiquarian Books. From ceiling to floor and wall to wall it’s full of enough beautiful, leather-​bound anthologies, rare hardbacks, classic novels and volumes to catch the eye of any passing bookworm. I’d recommend this place to those looking for a rare work because, while they might not have a massive collection, Colin Page has the kind of staff who know a good buy when they see one. It’s just the kind of place you’re likely to find that long-​searched-​for gem.

An excellent shop stocking second back books, antique and rare. Look outside for cheap fiction paperbacks, head inside for some rare editions, or explore the downstairs for some good finds. There’s something almost magical about this place, with wooden book cases, precarious heights of books and that neccessary musty smell. An excellent place for a browse, and the shop keeper wont bother you unless you ask either. I’ve found a couple of lovely items over the years including a cheap collected works of oscar wilde, and an old madame bovary!

I agree with both of the reviews for this place. It is an amazing independent bookshop– a rare breed now. The door is pleasingly wooden with a window and window blind– like something out of Dickens and it opens into a small room with a wooden counter and ceiling high wooden bookcases filled with leather books– very obviously old, rare and extraordinary books– they give off an aura. I would recommend just standing for a few minutes reading some of the strange titles. Then head downstairs. The downstairs of the shop sells second-​hand books of the more affordable type except that you reach them by descending a spiral staircase (I love spiral staircases!) which totally adds to the old-​fashioned and unusual feel of the place. The selection of second hand books is really good with a good range of art books, military books and other reference books at reasonable prices.

My Father actually collects rare books, and as a consequence often when I’m in his company in public I find myself being forcibly dragged round some grotty bookstore or other, in pursuit of some forgotten tomb or special first edition. As you might expect, such experiences can be a little tedious. Not because I don’t enjoy books, but because the selection of texts available in some stores can be mind-​numbingly dire. Not so at Colin Page thankfully, which offers a veritable treasure trove of literary delight, capable of entertaining anyone for days at a time. Stepping in this store is like stepping into a library stuck in a continual 19^th Century timewarp. Every book is delightfully binded, and looks fantastic, whilst the array of titles on display will both astound you, and make you question your own vocabulary — whenever I walk into Colin Page I seem to learn a crazy new word-​. To be honest, I really couldn’t recommend this store enough. Even if you don’t like books, or wouldn’t ever purchase something from this type of store, it’s worth a visit, because this is not just a shop, it’s an experience.