If you have a loved one who's difficult to buy for, a unique, original print makes a memorable gift and a great talking point to adorn their wall. Oxford is privileged to be the home of Sanders, the antique print shop. We chatted to co-owner Phil Marston.
Tell us about what you sell.
We sell antique prints and maps from the 15th – 20th century, covering virtually every subject and location you can think of. These sit alongside a collection of works by UK-based contemporary printmakers. All of the prints and maps we sell are guaranteed original, with no reproductions, copies, or digital prints.
How long has your business been going?
There have been antiquarian book, map, and print sellers operating from our premises since 1834, but it has been trading under the name Sanders of Oxford since 1927, so we continue a long tradition of selling prints and maps from 104 High Street. Sarah Boada-Momtahan and I are the current owners of the shop, we purchased the business from the estate of Christopher Lennox-Boyd, having worked for Christopher for over a decade.
We are both passionate about making art and antiques accessible. Sanders now operates somewhere between a gallery and a shop, and we hope that we provide a less intimidating backdrop to what is seen, traditionally, as an expensive and exclusive business - we have genuine antique prints priced from just £1!
What do you like best about being based in Oxford?
Oxford High Street is probably the best location in the country for an antique print shop. With a fantastically varied customer base of students, academics, locals, and tourists, we have a ready market for maps depicting every country and prints of every subject matter.
It also helps that, outside of London, Oxford is the most well-documented city in antique prints and maps, with the earliest obtainable view of the city engraved in c.1572
Do you think Oxford is a good place to run a small business?
I think Oxford is a tough city to run a small business, especially retail. The costs of rent and rates make it very difficult to set yourself up in a prime location. However, if you can establish yourself, you can reap the benefits of the previously-mentioned customer base. For a somewhat niche business like ourselves, Oxford is an ideal location.
What's the best thing about running a small business?
From a strictly selfish point of view, it has to be being able to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, and the ability to implement change quickly. But being a small business also allows you to build up real relationships with your customers, and for us it is always great to see returning customers who we have helped build a collection for, or who have been buying from us for decades.
What’s the biggest challenge?
Running costs are always going to be the biggest challenge to running a bricks-and-mortar retail business, especially in Oxford City centre. Alongside this, as with all high street retail, competition from online-only businesses is a challenge, and although we have a large selection of our stock listed on our website for sale (currently over 9 thousand prints and maps), we are lucky that, due to the nature of what we sell, people like to see them in person. This allows us to direct customers into the shop and offer them
a shopping experience that is above and beyond buying online or from a large chain retailer.
What's the most interesting little known fact about Sanders?
As one of the longest-running antique print (and previously book) shops, we have had a number of owners and employees, some of the most notable are: early photographer Henry Taunt, science fiction writer Brian Aldiss, and comic mystery writer Kyril Bonfiglioli.
Do you have a favourite product?
I am a sucker for anything celestial, and we have a great collection of star charts and photographs of the moon on display at the moment. I am also a big fan of the aesthetic of Japanese printmaking, so I think my favourite print in stock is one of the 20th-century landscapes of Mount Fuji by Takahashi Hiroaki (Shōtei) in our current exhibition.
Is there anything else you’d like to highlight?
We have two exhibitions running at the moment:
Fuyu no hanashi
20th Century Japanese snow scenes
Our winter exhibition of 2019 features our finest ever collection of seasonal woodblock prints by Kawase Hasui, the leading artist of the shin-hanga print movement.
And upstairs in the Landing Gallery:
MAPS: From THE FAMILIAR to THE FANTASTICAL.
To coincide with the Bodleian Library’s landmark exhibition Talking Maps, our exhibition, drawing upon cartographic material from the sixteenth century to the present day, explores the way in which maps have shaped and continue to shape our perceptions of the modern world.
Welcome to Daily Info’s 2023 Advent Calendar – 24 days of festive tips, free activities & local shopping suggestions!
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