"We are so lucky to have not just a book-loving Queen, but someone who really wants to use her role to champion reading all round Britain"

Founded in 1936 and a continuous member of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association since 1940, Heywood Hill has long occupied a singular place in British literary and bookselling life. Situated on Curzon Street in the heart of Mayfair, the shop has become synonymous with traditional bookselling at its finest: deeply knowledgeable, personal in approach, and devoted above all to the enduring pleasure of books.

The Royal Warrant recognises not only excellence and continuity, but also a longstanding relationship built on trust, discretion, and a shared commitment to literary culture. Her Majesty The Queen has been a tireless advocate for reading and literature, particularly through The Queen’s Reading Room, which celebrates and promotes reading across Britain and beyond.

Nicky Dunne, owner of Heywood Hill commented:

“We are delighted that Heywood Hill has very recently been granted a Royal Warrant by Her Majesty the Queen. As the crow flies I think three of the closest Mayfair bookshops to Buckingham Palace are Heywood Hill, Hatchards and the Curzon Street branch of Maggs Bros. All three of us are lucky enough to be warrant holders, and we’ve all been around a long time. Heywood Hill has been a continuous member of the ABA since 1940, which is rather special. The Royal Warrant is a truly lovely thing for all of us at the shop. We are a team of close to 20 booksellers, all dedicated to the written word, and the power of physical books in all its many forms to enhance our inner lives. Her Majesty has always been a powerful advocate for Britain’s literary culture and she does a great deal to celebrate reading wherever she goes, tirelessly so, not least through her marvellous charity The Queen’s Reading Room. Wasn’t it wonderful to see that brilliant literary event that she convened in the New York Public Library during that incomparable State Visit last month? We are so lucky to have not just a book-loving Queen, but someone who really wants to use her role to champion reading all round Britain and even further afield. She is an incredible person and my hat is off to her.”

Over the decades, generations of writers, readers, and collectors have passed through the doors of the Georgian townhouse on Curzon Street. During the Second World War, Nancy Mitford famously worked at the shop, helping establish Heywood Hill as a centre of English literary and social life in the 1940s. The shop has since remained woven into the fabric of literary culture, appearing even in the work of John le Carré.

Today, Heywood Hill continues to combine new, old, and antiquarian books under one roof while maintaining a fiercely personal approach to bookselling in the digital age. From collectors and scholars to casual readers and children discovering books for the first time, the shop has remained committed to the idea that bookselling is not merely a trade, but a form of cultural stewardship.

As an ILAB bookseller, Heywood Hill represents the enduring values of the international antiquarian book trade: expertise, integrity, scholarship, and a profound belief in the cultural importance of the written word.