With a company history that spans almost 175 years, there are various legends associated with the Maggs Bros.' firm: a certain 1916 sale relating to Napoleon Bonaparte; customers ranging from Harry Houdini to Henry Ford; and Maggs’ role in the negotiations to purchase the Codex Sinaiticus from the Russian Government on behalf of the British Museum, just to name a few.

To anyone familiar with Maggs' previous premises, there is yet another legend that is particularly relevant to our purposes here: the basement at 50 Berkeley Square. Customers honoured with admission to this storied locale were amazed by the breadth of the company's holdings, and Maggs booksellers still speak of spectacular finds from the fabled location.

Fast forwarding to 2025, Maggs Bros. is now firmly situated in its "new" (since 2016) home in Bedford Square. The near-mythical material from the Berkeley Square basement likewise made the trek from Mayfair to Bloomsbury. Recent additions to the storage space in Bedford Square made it possible to better organise (!) this stock, and we've found some wonderful items, hiding in plain sight. Here are some of our favourite finds from this diverse array of works, specifically old stock from the travel and military departments.

Prominent too among the Berkeley Square basement collection were various publications relating to slavery. One such work that caught our eye was the pictured pamphlet - also dating to French Revolutionary times - which is an address by the merchants of the city of Troyes in France advocating against the freeing of enslaved peoples in French colonies.

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We came across a few broadsides related to the Spanish Inquisition; this particular one was rather amusing, as it outlaws occult groups such as the Freemasons, the Illuminati as well as... "the Egyptians" (unclear from the text if that is a general prohibition).

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A further wonderful rediscovery were two beautiful albums of photographs of Muncie Island (New York, USA). Muncie Island was once a popular location for well-to-do New Yorkers' summer vacations, but the island was depleted in 1930 for a highway project. The images themselves capture the carefree nature of a beachside resort holiday, and the albums offer a striking physical memento of a lost island getaway.

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Finally, we wanted to highlight a beautifully hand-coloured work from the 50 Berkeley Square basement stock. This particular work, a history of Madeira, is an excellent example of the intersection between printing and painting.

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