Originating as a pop-up inside the police box down Leith Walk, Typewronger has grown into one of Edinburgh’s most beloved independent booksellers. The store was founded by Tee Hodges who, after stints at Heywood Hill bookshop in London, and Shakespeare And Company in Paris, returned to Scotland in 2017 to launch their own place, naming it after a blogpost they’d written about a passion project of fixing old typewriters.

The shop moved into a more permanent space next door to McNaughtan’s Bookshop on Haddington Place (where it remains to this day) and Hodges combined their love of literature and typewriters by selling both instore. While the typewriter side of the business is no longer, Hodges’ own personal collection still lines the shelves. ‘They’re here to look beautiful and for me to explain the history of typewriters and typography to people. And for people to use our public Royal 10.’

Alongside an expertly curated selection of fiction, non-fiction, poetry (‘definitely the best in town,’ Hodges insists), zines and one-off publications, Typewronger also spearheads its own printing and publishing arm from a studio in St Margaret’s House. ‘A lot of the stuff you’ll see in the zine section would have been printed by us,’ explains Hodges. ‘The studio is also where our writers-in-residence are; we support two every six months.’ The first such residence was taken up by poet Iona Lee: ‘we have her zine available for sale in the shop,’ Hodges states proudly. 

Unique instore events include a longstanding monthly open-mic night (the next one occurs on Sunday 23 February). ‘We’ve had people do eco-warrior poetry and magic tricks; someone was on a unicycle. We’ve had acrobats, comedians, musicians, all sorts. Everyone’s welcome. There’s a bell and a gong, and it’s really good fun. It’s where most people would start their journey.’

Typewronger Books, 4a Haddington Place, Edinburgh.