A mysterious alchemy is at work in a great bookshop.  What special magic is needed to turn piles of books and lots of shelves into those remarkably few special havens that enchant book lovers like me (and part us so easily from our money)?

A beautiful setting helps, whether it’s old or new.  Think of El Ateneo in Buenos Aires or the Tsutaya shop in the Daikanyama neighborhood of Tokyo, places where great care has been taken to display books in a warm, inviting way.  Book-loving booksellers are not as common as they ought to be, but when you find them they make a world of difference.  The staff at Hatchards in London seem to have all the time in the world to share their enthusiasm for books with their customers whereas, a few hundred yards away and on the same street, at Waterstone’s Piccadilly the staff might as well as be selling cans of soup, such is the lack of charm.  How peculiar that both shops have a common owner.

In the very best bookshops you can feel the entire collection has been put together specially for you.  Heywood Hill and Maggs, now very conveniently situated opposite one another on Curzon Street in London, have that effect on me, as does The London Review of Books store near the British Museum and Daunt Books in Marylebone.

As these rather random recommendations make clear, London is my place for buying books, though plenty of other cities have great shops.  Can anyone direct me to a great bookstore in Manhattan?  I haven’t found one yet that I really love.  Bauman Rare Books is wonderful but it’s hardly the place one goes to for everyday book buying.  I like McNally Jackson in SoHo but it lacks that special ingredient that keeps me browsing for hours and coming away poorer but happier.  Help me out – I promise to be a loyal customer!