The Academy Bookshop – the foundation of the publishing house
Having recently been given a copy of a 1981 edition “The Bookshops of London”, our Publishing Director, Alexandra Papadakis, reflects on the early bookselling days of Academy Editions, via its two bookshops in Holland Street, London. The publishing house Academy Editions was founded by Andreas Papadakis in 1967, but began in 1964 as a general bookshop – The Academy Bookshop.
Andreas’ first publications were finely bound limited editions of other publishers’ books, but he soon decided that he would prefer to publish his own and began in 1967 with a large format paperback of Aubrey Beardsley’s prints, an ideal title to attract the customers of Biba, who had recently opened her shop just round the corner in Kensington Church Street.
The Academy Bookshop at 7/8 Holland Street, London, W4.
The copy of “The Bookshops of London” in front of some of the early books published by Academy Editions.
I’ve just been given this wonderful book “Bookshops of London”, published in 1981. It lists my father’s two bookshops on Holland Street, W8, London, just before he opened a third at the Royal College of Art. We lived above the Academy Bookshop, and as you can see by the last photos, I spent quite a bit of time in there from a young age! It was running the Academy Bookshop that led my father to start his publishing business Academy Editions.
left to right: Andreas Papadakis in front of the door at 8 Holland Street. The publishing house began its life at the back of the bookshop. A young Alexandra among the books. Andreas Papadakis in the shop.
Alexandra at the till with Andreas the bookseller.
The area of Holland Street was synonymous with artists, fashion designers and musicians throughout the mid-‘60s, ‘70s and into the ‘80s. Barbara Hulanicki opened BIBA just around the corner on Kensington Church St, and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin opened The Equinox in 1979, directly opposite the Academy Bookshop, where he sold books on the occult.
Excerpts from the book:
LONDON ART BOOKSHOP
“This small and well organised shop specialises in new books on all aspects of architecture.
The wide range of subject areas within the specialised stock is remarkable in a shop where an exhaustive survey of Renaissance architecture can be found, as well as a highly specialised text on industrial archaeology. Indeed, almost all possible divisions within the field of architecture are acknowledged.
A few secondhand books are available, and a selection of magazines and journals on architecture and design is on hand.
Across the street is the Academy Bookshop, which is under the same ownership as London Art Bookshop, and carries books on fine and applied arts.”
ACADEMY BOOKSHOP
“The Academy Bookshop is run in tandem with the London Art Bookshop, but here the new books are all are on all aspects are fine and applied arts.
A particularly rich harvest of books on photography can be found here, but even in the more specialised fields of carpets, furniture, patterns and textiles, they stock a good range of titles.
As in the London Art Bookshop, the Academy Bookshop is distinguished by the extraordinary range and depth of its holdings. Academy Editions publishes books in the fields of architecture and the arts.”
London Art Bookshop, which later moved to the Royal College of Art; the shop front was designed by James Gowan. Pictured in the photograph is Jo Farrell, daughter of architect Sir Terry Farrell, who worked at Academy Editions, in front of the shop. The shop sold art supplies, posters, t-shirts, and books.