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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 19/09/2026

All set up for the September PBFA one-day Edinburgh Book Fair! We’re in the Augustine Church on George IV Bridge until 4pm today only.

A book fair stand with shelves of books on a table.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 18/09/2026

Hive mind gather round! Do you recognise this man on the right? He was likely an actor, perhaps a director, and worked with Beckett, almost certainly on a British production of Waiting for Godot. The photograph we can roughly date to sometime between 1956-1970.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 11/09/2026

Had to wait 30 minutes to get a clear shot of our stand between crowds here at the York Book Fair - open today until 7pm and back again Saturday!

A book fair stand - table and sets of shelves - full of lovely books.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 06/09/2026

From the boards of Alasdair Gray’s 1983 collection ‘Unlikely Stories, Mostly’ and later slightly adapted for the wall of the Scottish Parliament; Gray himself always acknowledged he had paraphrased it from Canadian poet Dennis Lee.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 03/09/2026

After a busy August, we are busy refilling the shelves, so here’s a peek at this week’s recently priced secondhand. Here’s to autumn and all the cosy evenings of reading ahead!

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 28/08/2026

One of our latests lists is devoted entirely to James Joyce material— first and early editions and publications, letters, scholarship, and even this gorgeous children’s book based on a letter Joyce wrote to his grandson, inspired by a French folk tale.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 27/08/2026

We take a lot of pride in parcelling books safely and securely for their journey to your home library— here you can see a gathering of parcels destined for customers near and far. Whether you order online or build a stack here in the shop that exceeds your luggage limit, we’ve got you covered!

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 26/08/2026

Before becoming a bookseller, I already loved marbled paper, but in handling more and more antiquarian books, I have become incredibly fond of paste-paper— pictured here as the endpapers in this eighteenth-century binding.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 21/08/2026

There’s been a complete power cut to the shop which means we’ve had to close early. We’ll be back open from 11am on Saturday 22nd.

Bookshelves in the dark, too dark to browse.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 14/08/2026

A whole pack of pelicans has flown onto our shelves! Best come by and browse them where they’re perched above fiction before they take flight again!

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 08/08/2026

As the first weekend of Fringe kicks off, we thought we’d highlight some lovely little secondhand treasures in our drama section. Wishing everyone an excellent festival season!

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 03/08/2026

Does anybody recognise this view? It’s from a late-Victorian collection of photographs undergoing cataloguing, with the bulk of the other 100+ images being of places in Edinburgh, Fife or the Borders. This one has me stumped though. Any leads gratefully received.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 25/07/2026

Thought we’d hop on the Odyssey bandwagon and share the copy on our shelves at the moment— the first duodecimo printing of Pope’s landmark translation, printed over 1725-1726 in five volumes. The fifth volume also includes Pope’s translation of Homer’s Battle of the Frogs and Mice.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 23/07/2026

Some gorgeous books that are about to migrate from the sunny window to the shelves— there’s everything from fairy tales to Scottish poetry, with iconic children’s books and books on brewing and insects for good measure.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 20/07/2026

Things found in books, an occasional series: a purchase receipt from @quaritch1847.bsky.social , dated 1899, in this 1888 angling book.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 18/07/2026

One of the pleasures of working with secondhand books is that our shelf divisions and categories are in a constant state of flux to serve our ever-changing stock. We’ve been lucky to get our hands on a comprehensive collection of social history focusing on the early modern period in Europe.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 16/07/2026

Austen Alert!! It’s incredibly rare that we have not just one, not just two, but all six of Jane Austen’s finished novels, both as individual copies and as a handsome 1940s set printed in Oxford. So head down to the shop or email us if you’re too far to browse in person.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 10/07/2026

The sunlight struck this shelf of stunning bindings so perfectly as we opened the shop this morning. Couldn’t help but capture the moment, after a dozen or so attempts.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 09/07/2026

A gathering of some intriguing and oft-asked-for titles from our recently priced secondhand. As we welcome a few more days of the rarefied Scottish summer, why not browse the shelves for a book to act as a sun shade while lying in the grass?

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 04/07/2026

In the absence of an index, simply read the book cover to cover several times, advises William Robb, enfeebled author.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 02/07/2026

Some striking patterned wrappers and boards from books around the shop today.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 27/06/2026

A delightfully louche advert for Jay Landesman’s Polytantric Press, advertising their new Soho home, from the rear of a 1978 poetry journal. The Fingertip Massage Parlour is long gone, although the St Moritz Club seems to still be there. Polytantric’s office is now an opticians.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 26/06/2026

Don’t you hate it when you run out of fleur-de-lis ornamental type and you have to sneak in a wee thistle? Whether done on purpose or by accident, this little variation by a seventeenth century printer has delighted this bookseller today.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 25/06/2026

Behold! The National Monument as it could have been! Enjoying the illustrations in this 1906 appeal to the Scottish people to join the author’s call for funds from the government to complete the acropolis on Calton Hill.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 21/06/2026

A scrap of paper which fell out of book currently on the #cataloguersdesk advertising what I think must be Inman’s London Stores (they saved money by omitting the R), a stone’s throw away from us, here at Haddington Place, on 46 Leith Street.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 08/06/2026

A splendid sun hiding in the margin of Isaac Vossius’s 1685 collection of essays Variarum Observationum Liber, currently on the #cataloguersdesk

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 06/06/2026

We’re back at the Augustine United Church for the PBFA June one-day book fair - a selection from stock on display and a bumper crop of other exhibitors as well. Here until 4pm today!

A book fair stand with four shelves full of lovely books.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 01/06/2026

A rather fanciful view of St Bernard’s Well, followed by the artist’s justification of it on the errata leaf. Taken from John Stoddart’s Remarks in Local Scenery & Manners in Scotland, published in 1801

The statue of Hygea is here oriented towards the river in Alexander Naysmith’s 1789 miniature Greek temple, rather than facing the path.

“The effect of the statue is greatly improved, by turning it towards the spectator.”

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 30/05/2026

A little celebration of libraries in our window today! We are lucky to have the @natlibscot.bsky.social & over 30 public libraries, making Edinburgh the first UNESCO City of Literature. Check out @scottishbooktrust.bsky.social & @cilipscotland.bsky.social for more on why libraries matter.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 28/05/2026

Delighted by the Carlisle binder’s ticket in this little nineteenth century book. J. Slee has clearly done lovely work, even if the book has seen some wear over time.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 21/05/2026

That letter ‘S’ after the apostrophe on the top line is a bit of an afterthought, J. Boyle, printer of Aberdeen. He perpetrated this typographical horror in 1788 so I’ve probably left it a bit late to complain.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 18/05/2026

Found tucked inside a copy of Edinburgh Fugitive Pieces by William Creech from 1815, currently on the #cataloguersdesk

“if you are eccentric or amusing or alive in Edinburgh, you are bound to be judged to be mad.” - Nicholas Fairbairn.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 14/05/2026

The Firsts London preview evening is in full swing and we have a stand full of lovely books!

A book fair stand with a glass case and a shelf full of beautiful rare and collectable books.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 12/05/2026

NEW BOOKMARKS DAY!!! Five fresh designs have just landed, alongside our old faithful. Which is your favourite?

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 10/05/2026

Great author photographs of our time: an occasional series. Laurie Lee reclines in Cyprus, 1945.

Laurie Lee in a safari suit lies on a pile of oranges, eyes closed, supporting his head with clasped hands behind

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 02/05/2026

A fresh window full of stunning photography books! It’s a perfect day for perusing art and gathering inspiration for your own photographic wanderings.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 18/04/2026

A delightful miscellany of Scottish books about to hit the window display to tempt tourists and locals alike!

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 01/04/2026

Now there’s been a few hours to recover from the morning foolery, can we interest you in a text to prepare your japes for next year’s April Fools? Featuring a mischievous Uncle Fester type on the jacket designed by Charles Addams.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 26/03/2026

For your edification and delight, some puddings from The Lady of The Lake cookbook, issued in 1907 for the Trossachs Parish Church Bazaar, and currently on the #cataloguersdesk

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 14/03/2026

Poor Harry. From an 1802 printing of “the Universal Spelling-Book”.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 08/03/2026

To mark International Women’s Day, a post highlighting some international women, with selected highlights from our travel cabinet which feature accounts of female travellers from 1859 to 1965.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 07/03/2026

The sun is absolutely glorious today, and the window is full of treasures—including a copy of The Hobbit that is just itching to find a home in somebody’s pocketses.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 01/03/2026

Happy St David’s Day! To celebrate, here’s our 1718 Welsh Bible. This copy also contains the Apocrypha (issues without were available depending on your religious affiliation) and maps.

Title-page of Y Bibl, printed in 1718 by John Baskett

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 27/02/2026

Just a wee shout and a holler about this Sherlock Homes set currently gracing the shelves, as Conan Doyle never lingers very long here. Today and tomorrow are the last days of our February sale, so it’s the perfect time to build a stack while browsing!

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Reposted by McNaughtan's Bookshop

Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 22/02/2026

He saw the weather written on the pane as he buckled on his gaiters, shouldering the hammer to walk the lane spooked with his breath, to the pond at the extremity of his acres… —Lorn Macintyre, “Bonspiel” published in Snowball in Summer (Argyll, 2009) #poem #poetry #curling #WinterOlympics 🥌

Bonspiel
Lorn Macintyre

He saw the weather written on the pane
as he buckled on his gaiters,
shouldering the hammer to walk the lane
spooked with his breath, to the pond
at the extremity of his acres.
The hammer bounced on the ice
a dozen times before he was certain
that it would bear the weight.
He took the pungent moth-balls
from the pockets of his plus-fours
before sending the serving-man
with a message round the doors:
‘Bonspiel at Murdo’s pond, tomorrow, noon.’

They came on foot, on horseback, by trap,
ladies in breeches, ploughmen with twine
lashing their shins for the only game
in the district. The shelves in the brick shed
were lined with stones like ancient cheeses,
each one owned by a chalked name.
Men down on a knee, as if proposing,
send the stone slithering across the ice,
its way hastened by scrabbling brooms.
Stones clash, and by the pond’s edge
a brazier offers searing chestnuts.

The pond has leached into the earth now,
reverting to a bog. In the bracken
I uncover the brazier’s rusted remains,
like a cauldron from an abandoned coven.
The door of the shed hangs off its hinges.
I lift down a stone from the dusty shelves,
the granite cracked from the collision
in the forgotten bonspiel. As I send it
spinning across the floor I hear
the roar, and through the broken window
see a beauty brushing up her game.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 22/02/2026

With all the excitement around curling recently I thought I’d look out a couple of related limited-edition books from the 1880s that we currently have in stock and available from our website.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 19/02/2026

A copy of Discipline And Punish in this 80s metal typeface would be especially gnarly, I think. I’m sad this Foucault branding didn’t catch on, but if any bands are looking for a new name and logo, this one’s potentially going begging.

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McNaughtan's Bookshop @mcnaughtans.co.uk · 17/02/2026

We’ve filled the shelves back up and the special sale in the shop continues until the end of February! Buy 3 or more books at once and get 20% off.

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