Literary Items From The W H Smith Archive at Auction

Items from one of the UK'S most popular high street booksellers WH Smith are at auction at Chorley’s Auctioneers.

The selection of retail memorabilia from the WH Smith Archive Trust collection reflects the company’s central role in British retail history, particularly in literature, stationery, and newspaper distribution. Proceeds from the sale will be donated to charity.

Highlights from the online auction include:

• detailed scale models of typical WHSmith stores from the 1930s and 1950s, including WH Smith’s Bridge House formerly on the Albert Embankment and a classic mid-century WH Smith store model, with period detail signage, shop layout and miniature newspapers and books
• a commemorative oak faux book box with silvered cast mounts, with a plaque for W. H. Smith & Sons Bookstall Centenary on the cover
• a collection of four W. H. Smith & Son's maps including Essex, The River Thames, Environs of Birmingham, and Norwich, together with a blank folio ledger bound in red cloth blindstamped 'W. H. Smith & Son Ltd. Strand House Private Shop Ledger'
• a complete 55-volume set of Newsbasket magazines, 1908-1967, in original green cloth gilt, the monthly internal journal of the staff of W. H. Smith and Son

The auction also includes various examples of the advertising signs, wrought iron logo signs, and pictorial and lettered tile panels in an Art Deco style that adorned many exteriors of W H Smith’s distinctive recessed shopfronts in the 1920s and 1930s. Produced by Carter & Co in Poole, these panels advertised particular services, goods and those with a pictorial element advertised book categories such as travel and literature, and many included the font designed for the company by Eric Gill.

WHSmith was founded in 1792 by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna in London, and their son William Henry Smith expanded it into a family business. In the 1840s, WHSmith pioneered railway bookstalls, revolutionising book and newspaper distribution, growing to become a commonplace fixture on Britain's high streets. 
The company sold its UK high street retail operation in 2025.

The WH Smith Archive Trust was originally set up in October 1997 by the WH Smith family and the Company as an archive to manage and preserve the historical collection of letters, documents, miscellaneous materials and artefacts relating to the family and company. The Trustees of the WH Smith \Archive Trust donated the historical collection of letters and documents to the University of Reading in 2010. 

“It's a privilege to bring these fascinating and historically significant pieces to auction," said a spokesperson for Chorley's. "They don’t just tell the story of WH Smith, they speak to a wider narrative about the evolution of British retail, design, and daily life throughout the 20th century.”