For over 169 years, The Book Room Limited bookstore supplied Haligonians with their favourite local and Canadian reading materials.

It began in 1839 when Wesleyan minister Rev. Charles Churchill responded to the demand for fresh reading materials by converting his own Lockman Street living room into a bookstore. By 1876, the enterprise grew into a storefront retail business on Granville Street.

A fire in 1949 destroyed the store, but the Hon. Charles J. Burchell stepped in with two other business partners to re-opened the store. Nearly 17 years later, Charles J.’s grandson, Charles P. Burchell joined the enterprise. In the 1960’s, he created a number of tourist booklets and postcards illustrating many of the popular areas around Halifax. Many of the photos were taken by his brother, A. Burchell.

The Book Room Limited Postcard Collection is part of the Halifax Public Libraries Postcard Collection. The postcards are searchable by author, title, subject keyword or location. Names of both the sender and receiver, when available, are also indexed.

Halifax Public Libraries has digitized this historical resource for easy online access and research purposes only. Halifax Public Libraries makes no assertions as to ownership of any original copyrights to images digitized for this site. Responsibility for determining the copyright status for any private or commercial use rests exclusively with the user.

Copyright: The Book Room Ltd., Halifax, NS. Images used with permission from Charles P. Burchell.

For more information, contact the Reference Department of the Spring Garden Road Memorial Public Library at 490-5710, or email at asklib@halifax.ca