A small shop. Tall stacks.
An independent bookshop, online — hand-picked by readers, packed with a note.
"Books are how we keep time."
How the shop got here
Margin Notes started in 2018, in the back room of an old terraced house, with two readers, a kettle, and a few hundred books on borrowed shelves. We wanted a place where you could ask for a recommendation and actually get one — from a person, not an algorithm.
We've grown a little since then, but not the bit that matters. Every book on the shelf is one we'd press into your hands.
12,000+ titles in stock
Fiction, non-fiction, picture books, cookbooks, poetry, essays — twelve thousand and counting, all hand-selected by the people behind the counter.
42 independent publishers
Forty-two small presses we adore, on first-name terms with most of them. Look for the round green sticker — that's the indie press shelf.
1 shop door you can walk through
Just the one. The green door, just past the bakery on Lime Lane. Open six days a week, with a kettle on most of them.
8,400 letters from readers
The notes you've sent us — about a book, a gift, a recommendation that landed — fill a whole shelf in the back room. We read every one.
Our shelves, in numbers
"Books are how we keep time."
Margin Notes started in 2018, in the back room of an old terraced house, with two readers, a kettle, and a few hundred books on borrowed shelves. We wanted a place where you could ask for a recommendation and actually get one — from a person, not an algorithm.
Things readers often ask.
Letters from the shop
Once a week, never more. Recommendations, new arrivals, and the occasional cup-of-tea reading list.