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At the time, Brian Leslie, manager at Borders Books in Speke, said: 'Sales have exceeded expectations. In 2003, Harry Potter mania gripped Merseyside as sales of the then new book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, soared worldwide.

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Borders was a massive part of the book industry in the UK and unforgettable moments. Over the years, different Borders bookshops would host everything from in store acoustic performances, celebrity book signings and midnight openings for new must-have books that would see late night queues. Boasting a fantastic selection of books, magazines, CDs, videos, foreign papers and gifts, you could also purchase stationery or a new video game via Paperchase and GAME which was inside many of the Borders stores. Many of the branches, including the one in Speke, had a Starbucks coffee inside so you could sip a hot drink whilst getting comfy on one of the big chairs with a book. It was a great place to meet up and socialise, as well as to stock up on back to school gear or tick off gifts on the Christmas list.

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It had something for everybody and would welcome students, gamers, young families, older couples and more to browse the aisles full of hundreds of books, from classics and children's literature to sport, new releases and more. In the noughties, Borders was a magnet for booklovers and shoppers. At the time, the latest addition to the New Mersey Retail park opened with a day of entertainment for all the family starting with story time for children and 15% discount on books, CDs, videos and magazines.Ī Borders bookstore logo, circa 2007 (Image: Ian West /PA Wire.) It's now been two decades since US group Borders opened a 15,000 sq ft outlet in Speke. Many will remember branches in Warrington, Ellesmere Port and more likely the massive store based at Speke Retail Park.

Candid photos of '70s Liverpool will transport you back in timeīut by the early noughties, the bookshop phenomena had come to Merseyside and had sites in the surrounding areas.

Brilliant photos of Liverpool music lovers are a blast from the past.Borders first opened in the UK in 1997 and was originally owned by the US book giant of the same name. It's been over a decade since we last step foot into our local Borders, which stocked thousands of titles and magazines, as well as cards, CDs, DVDs and more. But years ago, before online shopping and reading on a tablet became as big as it is today, we made our way to Borders Books. Today, bookworms in Liverpool are spoilt for choice with a number of brilliant independent bookshops and big brands to get their fix of classics, new releases, gifts and more. We are reminded that this emblem of mental life is subject like any other thing to the processes of erosion and decay.A loved and lost bookshop chain that was a browsing paradise for customers is still missed on Merseyside. The tenacity of pages and bindings to survive such assaults seems miraculous.” In his introduction to Bookworm, Sven Birkerts, the editor of AGNI, writes that the “vivid illumination of damage” in Purcell’s work “isolates and heightens the idea of the book as material object.

“I pillage only those books already in an outlaw condition, those visited by termites, silverfish, mice, moths and beetles, damp, mold, rot, or fire. I cherish them in perfect condition and care, too, for the not quite pristine,” she writes. “A book that is still a book but cannot be read imparts peace and promise.” Despite the miserable condition of the volumes she chooses to photograph, Purcell says that she, too, loves books. Although they are almost impossible to open and can no longer be read, “the sight of these books comforts me,” she writes. Purcell writes that many of the books she has photographed are now in her studio in Arlington, Massachusetts. Included in Bookworm are images of weather-beaten novels, books that were buried in mud, partially burned books, waterlogged books, and even a nineteenth-century French economics textbook that has been eaten by termites. The image above, titled “Book/nest,” is taken from Bookworm (Quantuck Lane Press, 2006), a collection of Purcell’s photos and collages of books that are in the process of being slowly destroyed by forces of nature. Readers who love-really love-books, who take special care in arranging them on their shelves, may at first glance find Rosamond Purcell’s artwork somewhat off-putting.

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