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ASH RARE BOOKS
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ASH RARE BOOKS | |
Cyril Nash and Hugh Jones, the original partners – in 1970. |
Ash Rare Books was founded in 1946 in Cullum Street (near Leadenhall Market in the City of London) by Hugh Jones and Cyril Nash. The original name of the business was Jon Ash – a product of topping and tailing their names. It was also the name of the principal character in a play (obviously set in a bookshop) that they wrote together in the 1930s. |
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The tiny and narrow original premises in Cullum Street in the 1960s. |
Laurence Worms in the Cullum Street Shop in 1977. |
The firm was taken over by Laurence Worms on their retirement in 1971. In 1979 the business moved to larger premises on the Threadneedle Street side of the Royal Exchange, opposite the Bank of England and the Stock Exchange, the name at that time becoming Ash Rare Books. |
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The Royal Exchange shop in 1990 – with the famous 1844 spiral stair. |
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The Map & Print Gallery at the Royal Exchange in 1990. |
| Laurence Worms at a meeting of the International Map Collectors' Society in the 1990s. |
| Laurence Worms explaining the finer points of a Beatrix Potter first edition to the late Princess Margaret at an ABA Book Fair. |
| Laurence Worms was elected President of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association (International) in 2011. |
By 2003 the internet had become the most significant part of the business and we finally left the City after a connection of over fifty years. We now work from private premises just off Tooting Common in South London. | |
Visitors are welcome – but by appointment only. The nearest underground stations are Tooting Bec and Balham, both on the Northern Line – the latter also having a mainline rail connection – one or other of the stations being accessible from any part of Central London in twenty minutes. On street parking is possible during the day on a pay-and-display basis. | |
Follow @LaurenceWorms | |
Return to Ash Rare Books home page. | |
