About us
In the 1980s, a couple with a passionate belief in the power of books wanted to make it easier for anyone to sell them. After several years working in the book trade, persuading retailers to stock books on behalf of the progressive publishers they represented, Annie Rhodes and Kingsley Dawson saw an opportunity. They started Bookspeed, a next-day wholesale service for books.
With Bookspeed's foundation came a vision to create an inclusive workplace, where people felt at ease to be themselves, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, religious belief, or sexuality. This is an attitude that we may take for granted now but wasn’t easily found in the 1980s.
All the best books in one place
Today, Bookspeed is still busy putting books on retail shelves all over the UK. We curate and supply book ranges for a diversity of customers including museums, galleries, visitor attractions, garden centres, high-street brands, and gift retailers of all sizes. If you want to sell books, we want to make it simple for you. We provide a one-stop shop for thousands of titles from hundreds of publishers.
We work closely with our retail partners to curate book ranges that complement existing product ranges and themes, drawing on our specialist knowledge about what sells well in gift retail settings. Our team loves hunting for the best titles across popular themes including food and drink, wellness, outdoors and travel, children’s books, and gift and lifestyle. We offer games, jigsaws, diaries and notebooks too.
Business with purpose
Since Bookspeed began, a lot has changed. Annie and Kingsley have handed over the Bookspeed reins to their son Lewis Dawson, who oversees more than 70 members of staff, based in premises in Edinburgh’s Leith district.
However, many things have stayed the same. Bookspeed is still an independent business, honouring those founding principles of inclusivity, respect, openness and responsibility. We seek to care for the people we work with, and who work for us, and take our responsibility to minimise our impact on the environment seriously.
We still live up to our name, always striving to respond to customers' needs with efficiency and speed.
Sell books with Bookspeed
If you would like to start selling books or refresh an existing book range:
