Tim Pyke's Blog - Posts Tagged "london"
London's esoteric bookshops
In this post I'll discuss my two favourite bookshops in my home city of London, Watkins and Atlantis, both long established and well worth a visit.
The late 19th and early 20th century was a time of vigorous questioning of long-held beliefs about the nature of man, his origins and his destiny as well as of the universe, which he inhabited. All these developments were to have a considerable impact on the thinking of many intellectuals preoccupied with spiritual and metaphysical questions. Amidst this intellectual upheaval there arose several organisations putting forward alternative views of man and his spiritual nature. There was an upsurge of interest in the hermetic and kabbalistic traditions, an impulse that lay behind the formation of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Additionally the new interest in the spiritual and metaphysical culture of Asia was to find an outlet in the founding of H.P. Blavatsky's Theosophical Society in America, Britain and India.
Watkins Books is London's oldest esoteric bookshop specializing in esotericism, mysticism, occultism, oriental religion and contemporary spirituality. The book store was established by John M. Watkins in 1897 at 26 Charing Cross road. He had already been selling books via a catalogue which he began publishing in March 1893. In 1901, Watkins Books moved to 21 Cecil Court where it has been continuously trading ever since.
John Watkins was a friend and disciple of H P. Blavatsky and was himself personally involved in seeing the first edition of The Secret Doctrine, her great metaphysical classic, through his printing press. The ideal of founding the bookshop is said to have occurred to Mr Watkins in a conversation with Madame Blavatsky in which she lamented the fact that there was nowhere in London one could buy books on mysticism, occultism and metaphysics. Two frequent visitors in those very early days were the Irish poet W.B. Yeats, himself a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and G.R.S. Mead, author of numerous works on gnosticism and a prominent figure in the Theosophical Society.
Watkins was joined by his son Geoffrey in 1919. John M. Watkins died on the 19th August in 1947, venerably aged 85. As a child Geoffrey met many of the leading occult figures of the time; MacGregor Mathers, W.B. Yeats, George Russell, Aleister Crowley, all visited the shop and A.E. Waite was a lifelong friend of Geoffrey Watkins, as were many other occult authors. The first biography of Aleister Crowley mentions that Crowley made all of the books in Watkins disappear and magically reappear.
After the death of is father, Geoffrey acquired the lease to No.19 Cecil Court. Geoffrey continued to run the day-to-day business, a veritable walking encyclopaedia of philosophy, religion, and the paranormal. At this point Stuart and Robinson, wealthy and regular customers associated with the Gurdjieff and Ouspensky movement arrived to help. They bought Geoffrey Watkins out and rejuvenated the shop, but kept him on as a genteel backroom presence to advise the inquisitive customer on hand.
After Geoffrey's death in 1981 the bookshop was sold to Donald Weiser, the American publisher of oriental and occult books. New ownership meant new energy including a complete refurbishment of our premises, opening up the basement and thereby doubling the amount of bookshop space and allowing for a far greater display of stock. In late 1999 Watkins Books Ltd. once again changed ownership and an ambitious programme of expansion was set in motion. In March 2010, Watkins Books was saved from administration by entrepreneur Etan Ilfeld. Ilfeld has retained the staff and is passionate about ensuring Watkins Books sustainability in the 21st century.
Atlantis Bookshop is an esoteric bookshop established by Michael Houghton and Paul Brunton in 1922. Michael Houghton was a British poet and occultist. He edited the journal Occult Observer (1945-50), with contributions from leading occultists of the period. Under the pseudonym Michael Juste, Houghton published several volumes of poetry and a volume he described as an occult biography, The White Brother (1927). Paul Brunton is famous for his book in A Search In Secret India and popularising Ramana Maharishi.
They knew many in the occult network from W.B. Yeats to Aleister Crowley to Dion Fortune. Atlantis has long been a hub for London's occult world. Gerald Gardner, who was instrumental in bringing the Contemporary Pagan religion of Wicca to public attention, attended meetings of The Order of the Hidden Masters in its basement, which was converted into a temple.
Like Watkins, The Atlantis Bookshop served as a meeting place for the 1960s subcultures. After the death of Houghton, the shop was taken over by the Collins family, who had hoped to change the character of the stock by specializing in books on science and microscopy, but the association with occultism was too strong to be broken and they were obliged to continue as an occult bookshop.
Located at 49a Museum Street it is currently owned and run by Geraldine Beskin. The shop hosts art exhibitions and esoteric talks, workshops and book launches.
Thank you for reading.
You can find me on Twitter @timpyke2015 and Instagram @timpyke
Please also check out my book, The Wheels of Samsara.
The Wheels of Samsara
The late 19th and early 20th century was a time of vigorous questioning of long-held beliefs about the nature of man, his origins and his destiny as well as of the universe, which he inhabited. All these developments were to have a considerable impact on the thinking of many intellectuals preoccupied with spiritual and metaphysical questions. Amidst this intellectual upheaval there arose several organisations putting forward alternative views of man and his spiritual nature. There was an upsurge of interest in the hermetic and kabbalistic traditions, an impulse that lay behind the formation of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Additionally the new interest in the spiritual and metaphysical culture of Asia was to find an outlet in the founding of H.P. Blavatsky's Theosophical Society in America, Britain and India.
Watkins Books is London's oldest esoteric bookshop specializing in esotericism, mysticism, occultism, oriental religion and contemporary spirituality. The book store was established by John M. Watkins in 1897 at 26 Charing Cross road. He had already been selling books via a catalogue which he began publishing in March 1893. In 1901, Watkins Books moved to 21 Cecil Court where it has been continuously trading ever since.
John Watkins was a friend and disciple of H P. Blavatsky and was himself personally involved in seeing the first edition of The Secret Doctrine, her great metaphysical classic, through his printing press. The ideal of founding the bookshop is said to have occurred to Mr Watkins in a conversation with Madame Blavatsky in which she lamented the fact that there was nowhere in London one could buy books on mysticism, occultism and metaphysics. Two frequent visitors in those very early days were the Irish poet W.B. Yeats, himself a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and G.R.S. Mead, author of numerous works on gnosticism and a prominent figure in the Theosophical Society.
Watkins was joined by his son Geoffrey in 1919. John M. Watkins died on the 19th August in 1947, venerably aged 85. As a child Geoffrey met many of the leading occult figures of the time; MacGregor Mathers, W.B. Yeats, George Russell, Aleister Crowley, all visited the shop and A.E. Waite was a lifelong friend of Geoffrey Watkins, as were many other occult authors. The first biography of Aleister Crowley mentions that Crowley made all of the books in Watkins disappear and magically reappear.
After the death of is father, Geoffrey acquired the lease to No.19 Cecil Court. Geoffrey continued to run the day-to-day business, a veritable walking encyclopaedia of philosophy, religion, and the paranormal. At this point Stuart and Robinson, wealthy and regular customers associated with the Gurdjieff and Ouspensky movement arrived to help. They bought Geoffrey Watkins out and rejuvenated the shop, but kept him on as a genteel backroom presence to advise the inquisitive customer on hand.
After Geoffrey's death in 1981 the bookshop was sold to Donald Weiser, the American publisher of oriental and occult books. New ownership meant new energy including a complete refurbishment of our premises, opening up the basement and thereby doubling the amount of bookshop space and allowing for a far greater display of stock. In late 1999 Watkins Books Ltd. once again changed ownership and an ambitious programme of expansion was set in motion. In March 2010, Watkins Books was saved from administration by entrepreneur Etan Ilfeld. Ilfeld has retained the staff and is passionate about ensuring Watkins Books sustainability in the 21st century.
Atlantis Bookshop is an esoteric bookshop established by Michael Houghton and Paul Brunton in 1922. Michael Houghton was a British poet and occultist. He edited the journal Occult Observer (1945-50), with contributions from leading occultists of the period. Under the pseudonym Michael Juste, Houghton published several volumes of poetry and a volume he described as an occult biography, The White Brother (1927). Paul Brunton is famous for his book in A Search In Secret India and popularising Ramana Maharishi.
They knew many in the occult network from W.B. Yeats to Aleister Crowley to Dion Fortune. Atlantis has long been a hub for London's occult world. Gerald Gardner, who was instrumental in bringing the Contemporary Pagan religion of Wicca to public attention, attended meetings of The Order of the Hidden Masters in its basement, which was converted into a temple.
Like Watkins, The Atlantis Bookshop served as a meeting place for the 1960s subcultures. After the death of Houghton, the shop was taken over by the Collins family, who had hoped to change the character of the stock by specializing in books on science and microscopy, but the association with occultism was too strong to be broken and they were obliged to continue as an occult bookshop.
Located at 49a Museum Street it is currently owned and run by Geraldine Beskin. The shop hosts art exhibitions and esoteric talks, workshops and book launches.
Thank you for reading.
You can find me on Twitter @timpyke2015 and Instagram @timpyke
Please also check out my book, The Wheels of Samsara.
The Wheels of Samsara
