Bookartbookshop is a small specialist shop at 17 Pitfield Street in Hoxton, a few minutes’ walk north of Old Street station, that sells artists’ books: works of art made in the form of a book. It was founded in 2002 by Tanya Peixoto, in an empty shop belonging to Alastair Brotchie of the publisher Atlas Press, according to the art publisher Four Corners Books. It is open Wednesday to Saturday from noon to 6pm.
Made in Shoreditch first visited in 2013. This guide explains what artists’ books are, what the shop stocks and how to visit, with details checked in October 2026.
What is an artist’s book?
An ordinary book is a container for text. It can be printed on paper, read on a screen or listened to, and the words stay the same. An artist’s book is different: the object itself is the work. Its shape, paper, binding, folds, boxes and images are as important as any words, and a digital copy would lose most of what makes it.
Artists began making books as art in large numbers in the 20th century, partly as a way around the gallery system. A book could be produced in many copies, sold cheaply and sent by post, putting art in front of people who might never visit a gallery. Artists’ books now range from single handmade pieces to cheap printed pamphlets made in hundreds of copies.
What the shop stocks
Bookartbookshop stocks work across that range, from limited-edition collectors’ pieces to inexpensive pamphlets. When Made in Shoreditch visited in 2013, the shelves included concertina books and boxed works by the artist and lecturer Susan Johanknecht, a boxed notebook by Uriel Orlow, and bookworks by John Bentley exploring places in London, including one cataloguing paper debris found in Harrow. The shop also stocked Tom Phillips’s A Humument, a reworking of a Victorian novel in which Phillips painted over each page to leave only fragments of the original text, now one of the best-known artists’ books.
Alongside selling books, the shop has hosted book launches, talks, exhibitions and meetings about the form.
Visiting
- Address: 17 Pitfield Street, London N1 6HB
- Opening hours: Wednesday to Saturday, noon to 6pm
- Nearest station: Old Street (Northern line), about five minutes’ walk
- Founded: 2002, by Tanya Peixoto
Pitfield Street is also home to CycleLab, the bike shop and juice bar, and is a short walk from Hoxton Square.
More books and art in Shoreditch
For other bookshops, see the guide to foreign language bookshops in London, which also lists Libreria, Brick Lane Bookshop and Hoxton Books. For materials to make your own, see the art supply shops guide. The creative hubs guide and fifteen years of Shoreditch creatives cover the wider art scene.