Which husband-and-wife team ran one of Victorian London’s finest rare books shops, in a Holborn building that’s now a Superdrug? And where in Bloomsbury could you find the vanished Hart Street, home to bookdealers Bull and Auvache?

Today, Bloomsbury is famous for its connections with writers like Virginia Woolf and Lytton Strachey – but its history as a hub of London’s rare books and manuscripts trade is more hidden. This self-guided walk invites you to peer below Bloomsbury’s surface for a closer look at some familiar buildings and the richly decorated medieval manuscripts once sold there. Using Layers of London's mapping tools, the walk leads you on a trail through Bloomsbury’s bibliophilic past, discovering the stories of the men and women who made their living in the rare books trade.

Watch the recording of Laura Cleaver's virtual tour, created for the Bloomsbury Festival, explore the records she has created within Layers of London, and then follow the walk either in person or online in your own time.

Bloomsbury Festival, 17 October 2020