Rare and secondhand books bought and sold in Epping, Essex

AJ Scruffles is an online bookseller operating around Essex and London but centred very much on Epping, a bookish little town but one increasingly devoid of bookshops (with one stalwart exception: ).

It was here that we first began to acquire stock, making small purchases from charity shops and the late lamented Browsers bookstore on Station Road. Our bookselling background was as a runner and as a scout, finding specific scientific texts on behalf of clients. Nevertheless we began to build a general stock; new or old, rare or common, whatever had an intrinsic worth. Eventually we had enough stock to send our books online.

Since then we've moved quickly. We currently sell at AbeBooks, Amazon and Biblio and are always looking for new marketplaces and arenas to list our books. Similarly we've broadened the scope and ambition of our acquisitions and will continue to do so.

Our name is derived from the E.W. Hornung character Arthur J. Raffles, the gentleman thief. Originally the plan was to have a cartoon mascot, a bumbling book-thief. He lives on in comic strips and in our bookmark.