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Welcome

Welcome to the Mayflower Bookshop, the only completely international bookshop in Leiden! Situated in the historical centre, you’ll find our bookshop at Breestraat 70.

Feel free to come in and browse our collection of both second-hand and new books and purchase our bargains, such as 3 = 2 (buy 3, pay 2), Top 50 and our special deals, and don’t hesitate to ask us for help and advice. We’re open 7 days a week!

Our second shop opened in November 2021 in The Hague. You’ll find our shop there at Lange Poten 35.

Starting from November 2022, the Dutch-language collection of Mayflower Bookshop can be found at Meibloem Boeken on Breestraat 72, which is located next to Mayflower Bookshop.

Hope to see you soon,

Team Mayflower Bookshop

Christmas at Mayflower Bookshop: Dinner for One and A Christmas Carol

As Christmas approaches, Mayflower Bookshop presents her two traditional Christmas classics: ‘A Christmas Carol’ and, for the last time, ‘Dinner for One’! On Thursday December 19 at 1930, Mayflower’s Freek […]

Coming up: November 10 – OSCAR WILDE FESTIVAL

11.45 – 18.00 On October 16th, Oscar Wilde was born 170 years ago; reason for Mayflower Bookshop to organize a festival on November 10th about this fascinating 19th poet and […]

Looking back – Effi Briest

On the last Sunday in October, retired German teacher and translator of poetry Hans van der Veen gave the last lecture in Mayflower Bookshop’s series Great Loves on Theodor Fontane’s […]

Coming up: October 27 – Great Loves 7: Effi and Major Crampas – a watershed and a climax – Theodor Fontane’s Effi Briest

On Sunday October 27, Mayflower Bookshop Great Loves series presents Theodor Fontane’s masterpiece Effi Briest as the 7th lecture in the series. Published in book form in 1895, Effi Briest […]

Looking back – Bonjour Tristesse

In a packed Mayflower Bookshop, the audience listened spellbound as French coach and literature expert Coco Hoek talked to us about the great French author and her succès de scandale, […]

Coming up: September 22th – Great Loves 6: Cecile and Raymond – giving falling in love a new dimension – Francoise Sagan’s Bonjour Tristesse

On Sunday September 22, Mayflower Bookshop’s Great Books series will feature Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan as the sixth event in the series.  Bonjour Tristesse took the world by storm as […]

Looking back – Anna Karenina

In a packed Mayflower Bookshop, the audience listened spellbound as Slavic literature expert, communications consultant and journalist Louis Smit told us about the Russian literary tradition in the 19th century, […]

Coming up: August 25th – Great Loves 5: Anna and Alexei – a forbidden love in Lev Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina

On Sunday August 25, Mayflower Bookshop’s Great Books series will feature ‘Anna Karenina’ by Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy as the fifth event in the series. After ‘War and Peace’, this was […]

Looking back – Wuthering Heights

On the last Sunday afternoon in June, the fourth Great Loves Lecture took place at Mayflower Bookshop. This month literary scholar Wim Tigges was our guest-lecturer, giving an inspiring talk […]

Coming up: June 30th – Great Loves 4 – Wuthering Heigts: Cathy and Heathcliff

On June 30th, Wim Tigges will tells us about the great love between Cathy and Heathcliff in the fourth GREAT LOVES event. Wuthering Heights (1847), Emily Brontë’s only novel, has […]

Looking Back: Emilio & Angiolina

On one of the many rainy afternoons this May, the third Great Loves Lecture took place at Mayflower Bookshop. The subject of this lecture was Emilio and Angiolina from Italo […]

Coming up: May 26th – Great Loves 3 – Senelità: Emilo e Angolina

As the third event in our series Great Loves, we travel to the Italy of Italo Svevo. We would probably never have heard of Italo Svevo (pseudonym of Ettore Schmitz […]

Coming up: April 21st – Romeo and Juliet

This year, our annual commemoration ceremony of William Shakespeare also features our second event in the ‘Great Loves’ series, focusing on the iconic love story of Romeo and Juliet. On […]

Coming up: April 9th – Triple book launch

Join us for a discussion of three recently published books on artistic explorations of volcanoes, Queer politics and Dutch rugby and a drawing book! Reading Sideways Press is an independent […]

New lecture series at Mayflower Bookshop: Great Loves | March 24th: #1 – Polifemo y Galatea

Great Loves series Following our successful ‘Great Books’ series in 2023, we are now launching a new international series: ‘Great loves’. This series will cover different types of love: the […]

Looking back – Jane Austen’s legacy: more than just novels

In a packed Mayflower Bookshop, Prof. Ingrid Tieken fascinated all present Jane Austen fans with her fascinating talk on the wills of Jane Austen, Jane’s mother and her sister Cassandra. […]

Coming up – February 18: Jane Austen’s legacy

On Sunday, February 18, linguist and anglicist Prof. Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade will treat us to a lecture on  much beloved novelist Jane Austen. Not so much on Austen’s novels, […]

Looking back – Poetry Week Event

Mayflower Bookshop contributed this year to Dutch Poetry Week with a lecture on Lord Byron’s poetry, his life and his loves, as 2024 commemorates the bicentenary of his death. Tigges […]

Looking back: Wouter Hamel in concert at Mayflower Bookshop

Watch here an impression of the Bookshop Concert by Wouter Hamel during the Leiden Blues & Jazz Week 2024 on January 18, 2024.

‘Mad, bad and dangerous to know’ – Byron’s poetry after 200 years

Sunday January 28, 2024: 16.00 In April 1816, the notorious George, sixth Lord Byron, was leaving England for the final time. Hounded by increasingly damaging accusations – of adultery, sodomy […]

Mayflower Bookshop Hosts Wouter Hamel in Leiden Blues and Jazz Week

Mayflower Bookshop will be a unique venue during the Leiden Blues and Jazz Week, featuring a performance by international artist Wouter Hamel on January 18 at 7:30 pm. The intimate […]

Looking back: Mayflower Christmas classics

In december, Mayflower Bookshop hosted her two Christmas classics: ‘Dinner for One’  and ‘A Christmas Carol’: once again, both events enjoyed great success!! On December 17th, the two matinee performances […]

Christmas at Mayflower Bookshop: Dinner for One and A Christmas Carol

As Christmas approaches, Mayflower Bookshop presents her two traditional Christmas classics: ‘Dinner for One’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’! Dinner for One, a classic on German television for over 40 years […]

Looking back –  the ingenious gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha

On Sunday November 26, anglicist and scholar Ruud Hisgen concluded Mayflower Bookshop’s series ‘Great Books’ with a lecture on Miguel Cervantes’ all-time classic The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha. […]

Coming up: November 26th: Enchanted by books – Don Quixote and Miguel de Cervantes

On Sunday November 26, Ruud Hisgen, anglicist, literary scholar and writer, will conclude our Great Books series with a lecture on the Spanish classic ‘El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de […]

Looking back – The sufferings of Young Werther

On Sunday October 29th, people flocked to Mayflower Bookshop, braving the bad weather to enjoy the fifth event of our series Great Books: the German classic ‘Die Leiden des Jungen […]

Coming up: October 29th: Endless Sufferings

On Sunday, October 29th, germanist and performer Hans van der Veen will give a talk on Goethe’s famous epistolary novel Die Leiden des Jungen Werthers (The sufferings of young Werther). […]

Looking back: Les Liaisons Dangereuses

On September 24th, Coco Hoek  took us to 18th c France for the fourth lecture in Mayflower Bookshop’s Great Books series. Hoek, who studied French in Leiden, painted a vivid […]

Coming up: September 24th: Magnificent, scandalous, magnificently scandalous!

On Sunday September 24th, Coco Hoek will give the fourth lecture in Mayflower Bookshop’s Great Books series, featuring the famous novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses (In Dutch: Gevaarlijk spel met de […]

Looking Back (with videos): Pink Books

On the evening of Friday, September 1st, the Pride event ‘Pink Books’ took place at Mayflower Bookshop, featuring the renowned guest speaker Splinter Chabot. Chabot was interviewed by Mayflower Bookshop’s […]

Looking back (with video): The Government Inspector

For the third event in Mayflower Bookshop’s series Great Books, people flocked to hear Louis Smit’s fascinating lecture on the Russian author Nicolai Gogol and on his play The Government […]

Announcing Participants: Exploring LGBTQ+ Literature at the “Pink Books” Event

Mayflower Bookshop proudly reveals the names of the distinguished participants who will be joining us for the “Pink Books” event: Freek Bouricius, interviewer (Mayflower Bookshop)Splinter Chabot (author and television producer)Felix […]

Coming up: September 1st: ‘Pink Books’ with Splinter Chabot (in Dutch)

You are cordially invited to join us on Friday September 1st at 8:00 PM at Mayflower Bookshop, Breestraat 70, for an extraordinary Mayflower Special: “Pink Books,” marking the essence of […]

Coming up: August 27th: Hypocrisy and corruption unmasked

On Sunday August 27th, Mayflower Bookshop’s Great Books series will feature Nikolai Gogol’s play ‘The Government Inspector’ (In Dutch: De Revisor) as the third lecture in this series. Gogol (1809-1852), […]

Looking back: Moby Dick

On the sweltering afternoon of Sunday June 25, people flocked to Mayflower Bookshop, looking for the treat of an enlightening literary lecture in the soothing environment of a cool bookshop, […]

Coming up: ‘Call me Ishmael’: A Universal Epic

On June 25, Mayflower Bookshop presents the second lecture in the Great Books series: Herman Melville’s stylistic masterpiece Moby Dick, or, The Whale (1851). Guest-lecturer, anglicist and literary scholar Wim […]

Looking back: Dante’s La Divina Commedia

Despite the beckoning sun, people flocked this Whit Sunday to Mayflower Bookshop, where poet and performer Leo van Zanen gave the first lecture in the ‘Great Books’ series. Starting by […]

Coming up: May 28th: GREAT BOOKS – La Divina Commedia

Mayflower Bookshop presents a series of lectures on international masterpieces: GREAT BOOKS. Poet and performer Leo van Zanen kicks off this series on Sunday May 28th with his lecture “DOOR […]

Looking back – Shakespeare Festival

On April 23rd, Mayflower Bookshop commemorated 400 years since the first Folio was published, as well as the Bard’s death and (probable) birthday. The first Folio, the first time all […]

April 23rd: Mayflower Shakespeare Festival

2023 marks the fourth centennial of the publication of the ‘First Folio’, which was published in 1623, seven years after the death of William Shakespeare. This collection of 36 of […]

Looking back: The unruly world Winnie-the-Pooh

On a sunlit International Children’s Book Day, April 2, Mayflower Bookshop marked this special day with an event about the world and language of Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends, created by […]

Coming up: Sunday April 2nd – International Children’s Book Day: Winnie-the-Pooh

To celebrate International Children’s Book Day, Mayflower Bookshop organises a lecture on the famous Winnie-the-Pooh, hero of the books by A.A. Milne. Who hasn’t grown up with Winnie-the-Pooh and his […]

LOOKING BACK – MAXIM OSIPOV

On Sunday March 19, Mayflower Bookshop marked the Dutch Book Week with an interview with Maxim Osipov, Russian refugee, author and publisher. Osipov was interviewed by Mayflower’s Freek Bouricius in […]

Coming up: Sunday March 12th – Maxim Osipov in Mayflower Bookshop

To celebrate Bookweek 2023 (March 11 – 19) Mayflower Bookshop is proud to welcome Maxim Osipov on Sunday March 12 for an interview on his recently published book Kilometer 101, […]

Looking Back: Burns Night

Poetry Week in Leiden was given an international twist on February 29 with a tribute to Scottish poetry by Scottish Leiden resident Adrian Young. In full regalia with kilt, Young […]

Coming up: Burns’ Night in Poetry Week 2023

Sunday January 29th, 16h00 – Breestraat 70 Traditionally, Dutch Poetry Week is celebrated in Mayflower Bookshop with a poetry event on the last Sunday of January. This year, Mayflower Bookshop […]

Looking back: Dinner for one

After two years of COVID, Mayflower Bookshop reinitiated its tradition of performing  the comedy sketch ‘Dinner for One’ on Sunday December 18. Amidst the books in the treasury of Mayflower […]

Christmas classics at Mayflower Bookshop: ‘Dinner for One’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’

Finally, we can resume our Christmas traditions of ‘Dinner for One’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’! Dinner for One, a classic on German television for over 40 years (but less well […]

COMING UP:  Mayflower Masterclass: Madness in Literature*

On November 27th, Mayflower Bookshop presents a pilot: Mayflower Masterclass, a new format, in which an expert in a specific field leads the discussion on a theme in literature. Attendants […]

Looking back: Skinner in Noordwijk

Following a short interview, in which he explained how he became a dedicated bookhistorian, and talked about his interest in the printing press as a means of influencing politics, Anglo-Dutch relations […]

Looking back: ‘Now’s the Day and now’s the hour’ (Robert Burns)

Despite the rain, the Scots event taking place this afternoon was well frequented; a great many people came along who were very much interested in Scotland and its literature, culture, […]

September 18, 16h00: The Invention of Scotland – Scottish literature in a nutshell

Orignally hailing from Scotland himself, avid St Pieter’s Church guide and devoted Commissioner of the Leiden 3 October Vereeniging Adrian Young will give a talk (in Dutch) on Scots literature. […]

Looking back: ‘You know my methods, Watson’ – Sherlock Holmes event

Fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is one of the most popular detectives in the history of the English detective story. But just how popular, was shown on Sunday August 28th, 135 […]

August 28th 16h00: ‘You know my methods, Watson’ – Sherlock Holmes and the history of the British detective novel

On 28 August, Wim Tigges PhD, will give a lecture on Sherlock Holmes, legendary character from the history of the British detective, and on his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. […]

Looking back: Nhã Thuyên’s rolling rivers of words

Nhã Thuyên, our guest on Sunday June 26th, is this year’s Poet-in-Residence at Poetry International, the Rotterdam-based poetry festival, one of the largest in Europe. During the interview at Mayflower […]

June 26th: Mayflower special – Writing from Viet Nam

Visiting poet: Nhã Thuyên  We are very happy to welcome to Mayflower Bookshop Vietnamese poet Nhã Thuyên, this year’s Poet in Residence at the 52nd edition of Poetry International (June […]

Looking back: Shakespeare

Picking up on her tradition of annually commemorating the passing (and probable date of birth) of William Shakespeare (also known as The Bard or the Swan of Avon) on April […]

April 24th: Annual Mayflower Bookshop Shakespeare Event

Op 24 april a.s. hervat Mayflower Bookshop haar jaarlijkse herdenking van de grootste Engelse dichter aller tijden, William Shakespeare, ook wel bekend als The Bard.Ter nagedachtenis aan zijn sterfdag op […]

Looking back: First love in poetry at Mayflower Bookshop

On a sunlit Easter Monday, Mayflower concluded the Boekenweek 2022 with a book presentation by Leo van Zanen on his volume of verse ‘De Bezoeker’ (the visitor), published in 2021 […]

Opening hours Easter Sunday and Easter Monday

On Easter Sunday and Easter Monday our shops are open from 13-17h.

Looking back: First love at Mayflower Bookshop

The ‘Boekenweek’ theme ‘First love’ was amply covered during the first activity of this week at Mayflower Bookshop. Wim Tigges’ talk on his book ‘Hartstocht achter de horren’ (passion behind […]

Mayflower Special: Boekenweek 2022

In the context of the Dutch Boekenweek (which actually lasts 10 days!), Mayflower Bookshop organizes two special Dutch events, relating to the theme of this week: Homage to first love! […]

Looking back: St. Patrick’s Day Event

To the sweet-voiced sounds of folk band Fiddle ’n Drum, Mayflower Bookshop’s new location, Mayflower XTRA, slowly filled up for our St. Patrick’s Day Event. The band, consisting of Martijn […]

March 20th: St. Patrick’s Day Celebration

an Irish afternoon at Mayflower Bookshop Lecture by dr. Wim Tigges Live music by ‘Fiddle ‘n Drum’ Don’t miss our celebration of St. Patrick’s Day with a talk by dr. […]

NEW: Mayflower Bookshop XTRA!

You find our XTRA shop right next to your familiar Mayflower Bookshop in Leiden, on the opposite side of the Catharinasteeg, in the venue formerly known as LVC. In this […]

Open again from January 15th!

We open our shops by January 15th. Welcome!

Open for click&collect

Mayflower Bookshop opened this week for click&collect every day 1200 -1700, so you can buy your presents in time for Xmas!

Sherlock Holmes event canceled

Due to the fact that once more we need preserve 1,5 metres distance at events, we have had to cancel our Sherlock Holmes event on November 28th. We are working […]

New Mayflower Bookshop in The Hague

Today, Mayflower Bookshop opened a new shop in The Hague! You find our shop at Lange Poten 35. Feel free to come in and browse our collection of both second-hand […]

We moved to Breestraat 70

Mayflower Bookshop celebrates move with historic lecture and skit

On 1 November 2021 Mayflower Bookshop will move from its current location at Breestraat 142 to a new venue: Breestraat 70 (corner Catharinasteeg). To add lustre to the move, Mayflower […]

50% discount on all books (Breestraat 142)

NOW: 50% discount on all books in our pre-move sale at Breestraat 142! Only 14 days to go to our move to Breestraat 70!

Looking back – Aug. 29: Shirley Valentine

A wonderful start of a new Mayflower Bookshop event season, in the new location! Played by our own Freek Bouricius under the direction of Sigrid de Zwart, Shirley Valentine is […]

Mayflower Bookshop moves to Breestraat 70

Mayflower Bookshop moves to Breestraat 70 After five years, it is time for a new chapter in the Mayflower Bookshop-adventure! On October 31st, we are leaving our premises at Breestraat […]

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