Why Were WHSmith's Station Bookstalls So Popular?

When Station Hall reopens in 2025 our restored WHSmith bookstall—which was installed at Waterloo Station in 1921—will be proudly on display. Such bookstalls became a common sight at railway stations following their introduction at Euston in 1848, with 1,240 stalls in place by 1902. Why did they become so popular?

It is a focus of warmth and light in the vast smoky cavern; it gives the idea that literature is a thing of splendour, of a dazzling essence, of infinite gas-lit red and gold. A glamour hangs over the glittering booth, and a tantalising air of clever new things. How brilliant must the books all be, how veracious and courteous the fresh pure journals!

Henry James, Author, English Hours (1905)

The (very quick) history of the WHSmith station bookstall

Station bookstalls have been part of the station landscape for more than 180 years, supplying us with the provisions we need to make our journeys more comfortable. According to the 1919 memoirs of bookstall employee William Vincent, the first station bookstall was on Fenchurch Street station in 1841, set up by Horace Marshall.

By 1848, well-known high street staple WHSmith was on the scene with a bookstall at Euston station, the first of a nationwide spread across the country that grew to 1240 station stalls by 1902. WHSmith’s didn’t just sell books, they also ran subscription libraries, where for a fee books could be borrowed and returned along the network (public libraries were not widely available until the later 19th century). They bought the copyright of popular authors allowing them to sell cheap editions of in-demand books (nicknamed 'yellowbacks') as well as publishing books specifically suitable for railway passengers.

A WHSmith carriage — Newspapers being delivered to Paddington station, about 1909 (1995-7233_GWR_B_501)

Newspapers were a large part of the WHSmith business—their boast being 'First with the news' stems from their pre-railway enterprise, distributing newspapers by coach. The growth of the railway network helped their profitability and distribution of newspapers by train, on custom-made vans, meaning passengers could, for the first time, access that day's news. This was a revelation—pre-rail it would take over two days to distribute newspapers to towns and cities outside of London.

As a result of the faster spread of news, the availability of affordable reading material and the chance to read while traveling, station bookstalls significantly influenced literacy levels, awareness of current events and opportunities for self-improvement.

What did railway station bookstalls sell?

Newspapers, periodicals, books, travel guides and stationery were sold along with more unusual items such as portable reading lamps as carriages could be quite dark before electric lighting. Carriage keys were sold in the days before carriage corridors, so passengers could open compartments without having to wait for the guard. WHSmith bookstalls were also where you could buy cheap pocket-sized books with eye-catching covers, often part of a series like Routledge’s Railway Library that were aimed at the travelling public.

...perhaps no other single element in the evolving pattern of Victorian life was so responsible for the spread of reading. The effect was increased still further when, with the rise of dormitory suburbs around the great cities, commuting between home and business became a daily occupation of many thousands.

Richard D. Altick, Author, The English Common Reader (1957)

The Universities are exclusive, but the ‘rail’ knows no distinction of rank, religion or caste. We cannot promise to instruct by steam, or to convey knowledge by express speed, but we may at least provide cheap and good books for willing purchasers, and make the most of that anxious and welcome desire for knowledge which locomotion has mainly introduced, and which cannot be gratified without adding to the happiness of the individual, and conducing to the permanent good of society.

The Times, Literature of the Rail (1851)

1975-7262 Candle lamp, Crab Railway Reading Lamp. Sold by WHSmith.

Baron Montez yellowback book — 2013-7151 A "Yellowback" book. George Routledge and Sons, 1893. Routledge's Railway Library issue 11.

Pocket carriage key — 1989-7243_(0001) Pocket-style carriage key.

1957 holiday guide — 1978-9754 Holiday Guides 1957 sold at station bookstalls.

Reading became a mass middle-class phenomenon in the nineteenth century partly as a result of the railway. It was an activity that filled the empty, parenthetical periods of daily life, the intervals between one occupation and another, between one place and another. It became less ritualised, and more ordinary, because of train travel. It was woven into the everyday rhythms of modernity.

The Railway and Modernity: Time, Space and the Machine Ensemble (P. 23)

[Jessie] Boucherett (b. 1825) … 'one day … caught sight, on a railway bookstall, of a number of the Englishwoman’s Journal. She bought it, attracted by the title, but expecting nothing better than the inanities usually considered fit for women. To her surprise and joy she found her own unspoken aspirations [regarding women’s employment] reflected in its pages.'

https://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=4852 (c. 1855)

Where did the museum's bookstall come from?

Our bookstall was originally situated at Waterloo. There have been several bookstalls at Waterloo over the years and ours was situated opposite platforms 17 and 18 known as Waterloo Road Loop. Although the Loop got its first bookstall in 1862, it was replaced in 1922 by our model. Mr C. W. Olney was the bookstall’s first manager and praised the way the new bookstall was dispatched and installed.

The new stall was brought up in sections. The old stall was demolished, and the new one erected ready for business in a very few hours.

C. W. Olney, Former WHSmith bookstall manager (1921)

Waterloo Loop bookstall — WATERLOO LOOP 1939 EXTERNAL Junior Staff Journal, June 1939 Reading Archives

Newspaper clipping of WHSmith bookstall — Pall Mall Gazette, 29 March 1922, pg. 7

Installing a new bookstall may have been a quick process, but the planning by WHSmith’s Works Department was carefully considered. Each location was assessed and measured to account for platform space, obstacles and light levels. So, although the bookstall could be erected quickly, its construction was bespoke with great attention to detail.

Our bookstall served passengers on Waterloo for 57 years, closing on 19 June 1978. Changes in passenger and company requirements meant that kiosk-style bookstalls were no longer popular with staff—who found them cramped with no storage—or passengers, who preferred walk-in shops selling a greater variety of goods. "Bookstalls have outlived their usefulness," quotes a manager in 1977.

Waterloo Loop was therefore given a new home outside at Sheringham Station on the North Norfolk Railway. It was there for a few years before coming to the museum, where it stored for decades in pieces. During these periods, the bookstall suffered considerable damage from the weather and pests. Water had rotted large sections of timber from its time in Sheringham, and wood worm had further undermined its integrity. Significant restoration would be needed before it could go on display.

How was the bookstall restored?

In 2022 work began to restore the bookstall. The restorers stripped existing paint layers to reveal the teak wood beneath; they removed the non-original fixtures and fittings from its time in Sheringham and repaired or reinstated the original features. Removing the paint revealed the original glass fascia and the teak timber has now been French polished to a high gleam. The bookstall restoration is now complete, ready to be installed in its new and final home in Station Hall. With light shining through the newly discovered glass panels, it will once again be a “glittering booth” and one that visitors can enjoy for posterity.

Redevelopment of Station Hall and the WHSmith bookstall is supported by the Friends of the National Railway Museum. Thanks also to colleagues at University of Reading and the Museum of English Rural Life for their help with research and accessing the W.H. Smith Business Archive.