About
Logo design by Sandra Rilova.
We love books; we believe there's nothing nicer than holding a book in your hands. And there's nothing better than second hand, pre-loved, passed-down books: we are only curators for a time. We also love languages, building cultural bridges, helping readers discover new things, always with our interests in mind: translated and strange fiction, poetry, memoirs, crafts, religion, feminism, the occult. Zines and chapbooks. Unusual objects. We aim at becoming a place of reference for new collectors and, if these topics speak to you, we hope there is something for you in our catalogue. We're always happy to offer advice, and can help elevate your collection by branching out into foreign materials, curious objects, or beautifully curated ephemera.
There are increasingly more women in the book trade, more women who collect, and more women entering 'bookish' spaces. La Doyenne wants to be a space for everyone, but we would like to encourage women in particular—that is, anyone who identifies as a woman—to enter this world. If you love beautiful books, objects and ephemera, there's space for you here, and we want you.
Meet the team:
La Doyenne is the project of a former academic library and publishing worker, who started as a shelver twenty years ago while a student at Glasgow University Library and went on to work for the Bodleian Library Foreign Cataloguing Unit at Oxford University and the Modern & Medieval Languages Faculty Library in Cambridge, where she acted as Librarian. In between those roles, Marian also worked for nine years in publishing and as a literary translator. Daphne du Maurier, Lord Dunsany, Mary Shelley, Charles Dickens, Nikolai Gogol, Anna Starobinets, Lisa Tuttle, Karin Tidbeck and Charlotte Cory are among the authors translated, published, and in some cases introduced to a Spanish-speaking readership during those years.
Marian has collected books and ephemera for two decades—Alice in Wonderland editions in translation, Cartonera books from Latin American presses, and zines about zine-making are among her favourite things to collect—and she soon started selling books on occasion, and advising on their care. She is a graduate of both the CityLit Bookbinding course, where she studied under Sue Doggett, and of the York Antiquarian Book Seminar. She collaborates in a part-time capacity with Cambridge's academic-specialist bookshop Plurabelle.
Contact Marian if you would like to start your collector's journey, are curious about any of the items on this website, or would like to visit our boutique Cambridge space: