In addition to the bookstores below, you'll find well-stocked branches of the Dillon's chain around town, including one at 82 Gower St. (Tube: Euston Square).

- Children's Book Centre
Address 237 Kensington High St., W8
Transportation Tube: Kensington
Phone 020/7937-7497
With thousands of titles, this is the best place to go for children's books. Fiction is arranged according to age, up to 16. There are also videos and toys for kids.

- Foyle's Bookshop
Address 113-119 Charing Cross Rd., WC2
Transportation Tube: Tottenham Court Rd
Phone 020/7437-5660

Claiming to be the world's largest bookstore, Foyle's has an impressive array of hardcovers and paperbacks, as well as travel maps, new records, CDs, videotapes, and sheet music. They have opened a "hypermarket" where you can buy original artwork off the shelf. Works by some three-dozen Spanish and French artists are for sale at prices beginning at £60 ($90).

- Gay's the Word
Address 66 Marchmont St., WC1
Transportation Tube: Russell Sq
Phone 020/7278-7654

Britain's leading gay and lesbian bookstore offers a large selection of books, as well as magazines, cards, and guides. There's also a used-books section.

- Hatchards
Address 187 Piccadilly, W1
Transportation Tube: Piccadilly Circus or Green Park
Phone 020/7439-9921

On the south side of Piccadilly, Hatchards offers a wide range of books on all subjects and is particularly renowned in the areas of fiction, biography, travel, cookery, gardening, art, history, and finance. In addition, Hatchards is second to none in its range of books on royalty.