Hasta La Ideas

Two titles, on 19th-century images of men and women, from the Dover Archive

While London’s Dover Bookshop finally closed its doors in March, its manager Tim Matthews is now set to keep the business going as a web-only operation…

Relaunching doverbooks.co.uk this week, Matthews hopes that the creative community previously served by the Covent Garden-based shop will remain loyal to Dover online.

Founded in 1986, the physical shop was established as a base from which to sell the Pictorial Archive range of copyright-free imagery titles from US publishers Dover. We reported on the shop’s closure in February this year. Currently, an updated section of the website reads: “Due to customer demand we are continuing our web service. We are dedicated to offering an exceptional mail order service for these books.”

Despite the huge changes that have occurred in publishing and on the high street more generally, Matthews says he still sees a future for Dover’s services.

“I still firmly believe there are those who still love print, [who] still value sourcebooks and the original Dover format, and that the shop meant a lot to so many people – [as] a design community resource,” he says.

The relaunched Dover Books website is at doverbooks.co.uk. Subscribers to the former Dover Books site will be contacted by email in due course.

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The July issue of Creative Review is a type special, with features on the Hamilton Wood Type Museum, the new Whitney identity and the resurgence of type-only design. Plus the Logo Lounge Trend Report, how Ideas Foundation is encouraging diversity in advertising and more