Word on the Water - The London Bookbarge - is a 100 year old Dutch barge, selling quality second hand and new books. We have classics, cult, contemporary fiction, a large range of children's books and art and photography, plus some quirky stuff that you would never think to look for but may be very pleased to find. Also a wood-burning stove, poetry slams, readings, book launches and live acoustic music on our roof stage including a free monthly Jazz/Poetry show. If you’d like to know a bit more about the voyage that brought us here, this brilliant piece by Rod Nordland in the New York Times fills in some of the gaps:

Our story

Hello from London to our friends and followers here in the UK and throughout the world. Our hearts fly out to you all, from our bunker to yours. We're nervous, we'll admit it. We have mouths, and beaks, to feed but are also quite determined to be indomitable.

And it turns out that Amazon has stopped selling books altogether due to the crisis.

And our brilliant UK stockists Gardners told us that if people want to buy books directly from us to be delivered to the door, the ones we curate but also the entirety of their 5 million titles was going to be made available.

So we're going online for the duration of the crisis to see if we can keep the food and toilet paper flowing.... (we live in boats - what even IS toilet paper.. ?)

For the period of the crisis there is a single flat rate of £2.70 postage on every book delivered in the UK, and £9.50 for shipping to the US and Australia. If you don't see the one you want in our curated selection on the site, there's a simple box for you to ask for it, and we'll add it to the stock within the hour and let you know you can now purchase it. We're frantically typing, hunched over old laptops in the barge, getting as much of our curated titles onto the site as we speak..

These are difficult times, and many things have changed, but change is also creative and reminds people who they love and what they're really capable of. And you know how you said you never had any time to sit and read...?

Sending our love to all beings, the furry ones and the feathered ones included.

❤️Please your mind and mind your head ❤️