The company that owns Shapero Rare Books in Mayfair and visual arts specialists South Kensington Books today announced plans to raise up to £10 million in a stock market flotation.
Scholium Group chief executive Philip Blackwell, a scion of the Blackwell family which has been involved in books for 130 years, wants to expand. He said demand was soaring thanks to the “newly minted millionaires” from around the world who have flocked to the capital in recent years, making it the “epicentre of the global art market”.
Scholium’s recent sales include an original Pushkin poem that was bought by a Russian for Valentine’s Day for 500,000 (£411,000).
“People won’t necessarily be buying these books to read. Old books are objects of desire. The touch, the feel, the smell are all part of it,” said Blackwell, who founded Scholium in 2009 and has built it through acquisition.
