✿ The longest established antiquarian counter in the North East

Whitley Bay\'s antiquarian counter, since 1981.

First editions, signed and rare, fine bindings, illustrated children\'s, the topography and history of Northumberland, Durham and Newcastle, and the wood-engravings of Thomas Bewick. Two floors of stock at 93-97 Park View, in a beautifully restored Edwardian pharmacy a short walk from the Spanish City and the Whitley Bay seafront. Run since 2006 by Anthony Smithson and Alice Laverty.

1981Established

40kBooks on two floors

BewickA specialism, not a sideline

Browse the rooms Ring the counter · 0191 296 0664

ABAAntiquarian Booksellers Association

ILABInternational League

PBFAProvincial Booksellers Fairs Association

YABSYork Antiquarian Books Seminar, co-founders

Browse by room · two floors

What you will find inside the shop.

Six adjoining rooms across two floors, each with its own counter and its own shelf. Tap a section to see what is on the shelves this week, then ring the counter on 0191 296 0664 if you are travelling for a specific item.

01 · Modern firsts

First editions, signed copies, the Booker shortlists.

From Faber and Bloomsbury reprints through to single signed first impressions, the modern firsts case sits on the ground floor as you walk in. Stock turns over weekly and the counter holds back unusual items, so the shelf you see on a Tuesday is rarely the shelf you see on a Friday. We hold back signed copies for collectors who ring ahead. The case is built on three decades of trade buying, from York Bookfair, Firsts London and Tyneside estate sales.

Signed. Stamped, inscribed, bookplate-signed, dust-jacket-signed. The counter explains the difference at point of sale.
Firsts. First edition, first impression, dust jacket present where present. State noted on every priced item.
Bloomsbury and Faber back-list. The shelves the Newcastle reading public actually buys from.

In the window this week

A small selection from the case.

Six picks from this week\'s stock, drawn from across the two floors. Stock changes week to week. Ring the counter on 0191 296 0664 for any specific title, or visit Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 to 17:00.

BEWICK

A History of British Birds

Newcastle, T. Bewick, 1797 and 1804 (Memorial Edition, 1862)

Two volumes, octavo, original cloth

MODERN FIRSTS

Signed first impressions

Bloomsbury, Faber, Pan, the Booker shortlists

Counter holds back unusual items

NORTHUMBERLAND

Tomlinson's Comprehensive Guide

To the County of Northumberland, 5th edn, c. 1916

Local history shelf, ground floor

CHILDREN'S

The original Beatrix Potter

Warne first-impression colour plates, Edwardian annuals

Vintage children's, first floor

CRAWHALL

Joseph Crawhall the elder

Newcastle wood-engraver, Bewick's successor, 1821 to 1896

Adjacent to the Bewick shelf

EPHEMERA

Tyneside broadsides, c. 1820 onwards

Mining chapbooks, Geordie songs, regimental sheets

Map and print room

Stock rotates weekly. Counter holds back unusual items. Phone 0191 296 0664 for anything you do not see, or write to mail@keelrowbooks.com.

Thomas Bewick · a specialism, not a sideline

A counter that has carried Bewick for forty-five years.

Thomas Bewick (1753 to 1828) was born at Cherryburn on the Tyne, fifteen miles west of Newcastle. He turned the wood-engraving from a workshop expedient into a fine-art medium. His A History of British Birds (the Land Birds of 1797 and the Water Birds of 1804) is the founding work of British illustrated natural history. The 1862 Memorial Edition, struck from the surviving original wood, brought Bewick to a new generation. Joseph Crawhall the elder, the Newcastle wood-engraver who succeeded him, ran on the same shelves.

Keel Row has carried Bewick continuously since 1981. The shelf survived the move from North Shields in 2023. We know the watermark-and-binding tells the Memorial Edition collectors look for, the difference between the early Newcastle imprints and the later London-issued reprints, and the family of secondary scholarship from Tattersall up to Jenny Uglow.

A handwritten 1822 receipt by Bewick was found tucked inside another book on this counter in September 2022. It was returned to the Cherryburn archive at his birthplace.
keelrowbooks.com / latest news, 20 September 2022

Write about a Bewick item Or ring the counter

The shop · Park View, Whitley Bay

A restored Edwardian pharmacy, two streets back from the Spanish City.

We moved a few miles east along the coast from North Shields on the 5th of August 2023. Park View is Whitley Bay\'s row of independents, a short walk from the Whitley Bay Metro station and the Dome.

The frontage

A former pharmacy, restored room by room.

The building is the old Park View pharmacy. We kept the original tongue-and-groove panelling, restored the cabinets and ran library ladders along the long walls. The interwar glass plate negatives we found in the walls during the refit (the original pharmacist Mr Golightly and his son outside the shop) are now framed on the wall above the literature room.

The plates we found

Yardley, Johnson\'s, Mr Golightly.

The vintage pharmacy displays (Yardley, Johnson\'s baby powder) and the old glass chemist bottles came out of the walls during renovation. They sit on the cabinet at the back of the shop, alongside the glass plate negatives of the building from the 1920s. We are the third occupants of this space in a century.

The library ladders

Two floors. Six rooms.

Roughly 40,000 books, on two floors, in six adjoining rooms. The literature room and the modern firsts are on the ground floor as you come in. The Bewick shelf, the children\'s case, the print room and the Northumberland history shelves run across the upper floor. The library ladders came with us from North Shields.

Sell to Keel Row · single books to entire libraries

We buy books everywhere from the counter to the country house.

Anthony has been a bookseller for thirty years. We buy single books at the counter (valuation on the spot), boxes by appointment, and whole libraries by home visit anywhere in the North East. Probate and insurance valuations are part of the regular work. The counter has handled estate clearances from the Borders down to County Durham. Ring 0191 296 0664 before you pack anything.

Single books at the counter. Valuation on the spot, paid in cash or bank transfer.
Boxes by appointment. Phone ahead so the counter is free when you arrive.
Whole libraries, home visits. Anywhere in the North East. Borders to County Durham.
Probate and insurance valuations. Formal written report, ABA accredited.

Since 1981 · the longest established in the North East

Four decades on the Tyneside antiquarian counter.

Keel Row Bookshop opened in 1981 at the ancient port of North Shields. Anthony Smithson and Alice Laverty took the shop on in 2006. In summer 2023 we moved a few miles east along the coast to a beautifully restored Edwardian pharmacy at 93-97 Park View in Whitley Bay. Around 40,000 books made the move with us.

1981

Keel Row Bookshop opens at the ancient port of North Shields on the Tyne.
2006

Anthony Smithson and Alice Laverty take the shop on. Anthony with thirty years in the trade, Alice from an architectural-practice background in Newcastle.
2012

Smithson and Laverty co-found the York Antiquarian Books Seminar, the four-day course the trade calls a boot camp for booksellers.
2022

A handwritten 1822 receipt by Thomas Bewick is found tucked inside another book at the shop, then returned to the Cherryburn archive at Bewick's birthplace.
2023

August 5. The shop moves a few miles east along the coast to 93-97 Park View, Whitley Bay. Two floors. 40,000 books. Library ladders and tongue-and-groove panelling retained.
Today

The longest established antiquarian counter in the North East, working out of a beautifully restored Edwardian pharmacy on Park View.

Visit · Park View, Whitley Bay

Two floors of antiquarian stock, ten minutes by Metro from Newcastle.

Whitley Bay Metro station is a five-minute walk from the shop. The seafront and the Spanish City Dome are two streets east. Free street parking on Park View outside shop hours.

Address: 93-97 Park View, Whitley Bay NE26 3RJ
Phone: 0191 296 0664
Email: mail@keelrowbooks.com
Metro: Whitley Bay station on the Yellow Line, five minutes on foot

Opening hours

Open Tuesday to Saturday.

Monday Closed
Tuesday 10:00 to 17:00
Wednesday 10:00 to 17:00
Thursday 10:00 to 17:00
Friday 10:00 to 17:00
Saturday 10:00 to 17:00
Sunday Closed

By appointment outside these hours for serious collectors and trade buyers. Ring ahead in the first or second week of York Bookfair (September) and Firsts London (May).

FAQ

Five questions the counter answers most.

For anything not here, ring the shop on 0191 296 0664 or write to mail@keelrowbooks.com.

Do you have any Thomas Bewick wood-engravings on the shelves?

Yes. The Bewick shelf is the longest-running specialism in the shop, the trade's first port of call for North East Bewick material, and it is the room we built the renovation around. Stock varies week to week and the counter holds unusual items back, so phone 0191 296 0664 if you are travelling for a specific piece and we will check the case. We also carry Joseph Crawhall the elder, Bewick's Newcastle successor, on the adjoining shelf.

I have inherited a box of old books from a relative. Do you buy?

Yes. We buy single books at the counter, boxes by appointment, and entire libraries by home visit anywhere in the North East. Anthony has been a bookseller for thirty years and has handled estate clearances from the Borders down to County Durham. Probate and insurance valuations are part of the regular work. Ring the shop on 0191 296 0664 to talk it through before you pack anything.

Did you used to be in North Shields?

Yes. The shop traded from North Shields from 1981. We moved a few miles east along the coast in August 2023 to a beautifully restored Edwardian pharmacy on Park View in Whitley Bay, ten minutes by Metro from Newcastle. The library ladders, the tongue-and-groove shelving and most of the customers came with us.

Do you ship internationally?

Yes. Most weeks the shop posts books to North America and across Europe, with international demand strongest for Northumberland topography, Hadrian's Wall scholarship and Bewick material. Postage is quoted at point of sale by weight and destination. For high-value items we use a tracked-and-signed service.

Are you open Sundays?

Closed Sunday and Monday. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 to 17:00. By appointment outside those hours for serious collectors and trade. The counter attends York Bookfair in September, Firsts London in May and a number of regional fairs through the year, so phone ahead if your visit falls in the first or second week of either month.