Sainsbury's Books

The name Sainsbury's will probably always conjure up images of the UK supermarket chain for this Pommie migrant, but here in Melbourne, it's the name of an absolutely gorgeous antiquarian and second-hand bookshop in Camberwell.

Sainsbury's Books is very well laid out with shelves devoted to art, history, military history, motoring, general fiction and collectibles, including rugs, ceramics, silverware etc. There a lot of old British texts, as well as books about Asia and the Middle East.

 For my own interests, the crime shelves consisted mainly of trade paperbacks by popular authors. The children's section was a tad disappointing for me, containing mostly picturebooks, and only a few vintage GOish titles, mainly Arthur Ransome and Mary Grant Bruce.

I did, however, find two excellent titles in the history section, which will help me with some research I'm doing.

Sainsbury's Books has been around for more than 30 years, and it's great to see that it's still doing well. The staff are knowledgeable and the bookshop was busy on the day I visited.

Sainsbury's Books is in Riversdale Road. Just round the corner in Butler Street, you'll find a cute little street library, so come armed with a book or two in case there's something you'd like in there.