10 books every Londoner should read according to IDEA Books

Never judge a book by its cover? IDEA does it for a living. Run by David Owen and Angela Hill (IDEA is an acronym of their first names, plus those of their two daughters, Edith and Iris), the London-based bookseller snaps up the coolest, most coveted books from around the world, from Charlotte Rampling: With Compliments (iconic shots of the actress) to AppleDesign (a compendium of every single Apple design up to 1997), cherry-picking the rarest literature from trips to Paris, Tokyo, LA and New York.

A huge Instagram following helps — ‘more than all the bookshops in the world put together,’ according to Owen — with 219k flocking to IDEA’s updates of inspirational books you need to own. ‘Everything is now the internet,’ says Owen, who has had a space at Dover Street Market since 2006, as well as other locations in DSMNY and Comme des Garçons’ Trading Museum in Paris. ‘It’s totally transformed the business: we post a book every three hours and sell absolutely everything we buy in.’ Creative types looking for inspiration make up the body of customers, but these are books for everyone — while stocks last (and they rarely do). Tomes can sell for upwards of £1,000, although you can find gems for £100. For more details and how to buy, go to idea-books.com.

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