Amanda Hall Rare Books was established in 1997 in a tiny attic room in Paris. Having been running the English Literature department at Pickering and Chatto, Amanda wanted to branch out into French and Continental Literature and Paris seemed a good place to start. Captivated by the beautiful copies she found there, from green morocco armorial bindings to wildly colourful papiers dominotés, the condition and authenticity of each book became a cornerstone of the business.
Returning to London, the business became more established, exhibiting at London Book Fairs and issuing regular catalogues. 1999 saw the first move out of London, as far as Upper Bucklebury in Berkshire and then 2000 took the business to Teffont Evias where it flourished in three locations, ending up in the wonderfully converted Old Dairy of Home Farm House. Lockdown saw another move, to a beautiful seventeenth century farmhouse in Berwick St. John, an unspoilt village a little bit further into Wessex. As well as exhibiting at numerous London book fairs over the years, we regularly exhibit at the Armory in New York and at the California International Book Fair.
We specialise in rare books of the long eighteenth century, in many languages, with an emphasis on literature. Utopias and Imaginary Voyages are a favourite, along with all kinds of Fiction, good and bad, from Gothic to Bodice-Ripper, and Forbidden Books, Revolutionary and Incendiary Literature, Catholicism and Anti-Catholicism, Books for Children, Books by and about Women, Poetry, Drama, Philosophy, Art and Architecture, the translation and spread of literature across Europe (an old favourite: Channel Crossings) and beautiful Bindings with glorious endpapers, Illustrated Books, Fables, Devotional Works, Military Books, Travel Books, Travelling Libraries, Miniature Books and All Manner of Books that conjure up the life and imagination of the Enlightenment.