Fantasy Book Centre
(Did you mean Fantasy Centre on Holloway Road, 1969–2009?)
The Fantasy Book Centre was the name used by two bookshops in London operating from around 1948 into the 1970s. It was almost certainly the first specialist SF bookshop in the UK.[1] It was originally owned and managed by Frank Cooper and later Les Flood.
Fantasy Review #11 (October/November 1948) contained an advertisement for the 'Fantasy Magazine Library' operating out of The Bookshop, 25 Stoke Newington Road, London N16. (Then describes it as 'a poor but bustling part of London some three or four miles north of the City'.) It's unclear whether the shop itself was an sf specialist at this time or whether it was merely the base for the library. It was Cooper's address as given in the 'Memorandum and Articles of Association' for Nova Publications dated November 5, 1948 and it also appeared on the Nova letterhead. The February/March 1949 issue (#13) carries another advertisement but now the business is named The Fantasy Bookshop. The final form of the name, the Fantasy Book Centre, appears in an advertisement in #16 dated Autumn 1949. Vin¢ Clarke worked in the shop around the summer of that year, writing later 'To work in such a business was, for a new Faan, a slightly commercialised dream of heaven.'[2] Then also notes that the shop sold 'fantasies' by the later-infamous French Olympia Press.
The shop relocated to 52 Stoke Newington Road,[3] probably in 1951 or 1952. The old address is shown is the Operation Fantast Handbook for 1951, albeit the name of the business is given as 'Fantasy Book Service', and the new appears in the 1952 and 1953 editions although the latter also confusingly 'relocates' it to London SE25 about 15 miles away.
At some point Les Flood also became involved in the business, although it's unclear when. An advertisement for the International Fantasy Award in New Worlds #15 (May 1952) gives Flood's name as 'honorary secretary' of the Award and the address c/o 52 Stoke Newington Road. Flood was also a director of Nova Publications which operated out of the same address. In a profile in New Worlds #48 (June 1956) he said, 'Recently I achieved a major ambition by going into business on my own with a West Central London Shop specialising in science fiction and jazz'. It is of course possible that he had been working there for Cooper from an earlier date.
The 'West Central London Shop' to which Flood referred was the Fantasy Book Centre's second branch, opened at 10 Sicilian Avenue, Holborn, London WC1 around 1952–3. Flood's name is certainly associated with this bookshop although it was Cooper who placed an advertisement for the new shop in the souvenir book for Coroncon in 1953, enthusiastically advising attendees 'You are within one hundred yards of the greatest science-fiction bookshop!!' and that on both days it would be 'manned and ready to sell you the latest and greatest, the oldest and finest, vintage and modern, examples of ALL the Science-fiction and Fantasy books and magazines you ever dreamed of'. The shop was open until 8.30pm on Thursday evenings to catch those on the way to meetings at the nearby White Horse.
The two shops continued in parallel for a time. An advertisement on the inside back cover of New Worlds #23 (May 1954) gave both addresses, with that in Stoke Newington housing the mail order department. Services offered including postal library operating out of both branches, and vintage and new British and United States books and magazines. The business would also buy books and magazines, offering half-price on US digest-size magazines in good condition and one-third price on fine books.
The later history of the shop(s) is a little unclear. It does seem that the Stoke Newington shop closed and the Sicilian Avenue branch continued alone. Burroughsania #1 (April 1956) carries an an advertisement listing only the Sicilian Avenue address while another in #6 (September) added that they also stock 'a good selection of jazz and pop records'. In Prolapse #12, Jim Linwood recalled visiting the Sicilian Avenue shop in the late 1950s when 'the sign above the door to the Fantasy Book Centre had faded and Les Flood presided over a mainly popular record stock with a few US paperbacks and magazines plus EC comics in the small main part of the shop, whilst the basement housed a large library of hardbacks which were being sold off at ridiculously low prices'. However, an advertisement in Cosmos #1 (April 1969) says 'The original Fantasy Book Centre[5] is still the only specialist shop in London', and offers new and secondhand books and magazines and 'expert guidance by veteran fan and critic Leslie Flood' while a PS adds 'We also sell gramophone records'.
The shop rebranded as Books and Music at some unknown point although clearly after April 1969. Flood remained in charge but its stock increasingly reflected the second part of its name.
Links
- 'A Boy and his Bike – or, Searching for Science Fiction in 1950s London' by George Locke, Prolapse #11 (May 2008)
- Documentation on the early history of Nova Publications at Rob Hansen's website
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- ↑ The Science-Fiction Service business operated by by Ted Carnell and Leslie J. Johnson dates from 1937 but appears to have been a mail order business only at that time. It was relaunched around 1947 with a physical address that apparently would be visited by fans, but it remains unclear how much exactly of an ordinary shop it was.
- ↑ Then https://ansible.uk/Then/then_1-2.html ; in the book form, page 82, footnoted 69.
- ↑ And Nova Publications moved with it.
- ↑ Photo dated following analysis of records visible in the shop window.
- ↑ Although this is the Sicilian Avenue address, and not the original.
| Store | 1948—???? |
| This is an SF bookstore page. When a floreat "fl." is listed it records the dates for which we have evidence and may not be the store's entire span. |
