Atlantis Bookshop

The Atlantis Bookshop is an esoteric bookshop in Museum Street, London.^[1] Established by Michael Houghton in 1922,^[2] it is currently owned and run by Bali Beskin and her mother Geraldine.

Exterior of the shop

Atlantis has long been a hub for London's occult world.^[3] Gerald Gardner attended meetings of The Order of the Hidden Masters in its basement during his formative years,^[4] and also held meetings of his own Coven there. The shop published his first book on witchcraft, the novel High Magic's Aid.^[5] Here he also met Ross Nichols, later a key figure in the Druid world, who edited Gardner's 1954 Witchcraft Today.^[6]

Atlantis hosts art exhibitions and esoteric talks, workshops and book launches. For many years it ran a discussion group for pagans and magicians called "The Moot With No Name" in the nearby Devereux Arms off Fleet Street,^[7][8] which then moved to Milford's pub in Milford Lane as "The Atlantis Bookshop Presents" before ceasing some years ago. It also publishes occasional volumes under its own imprint, Neptune Press,^[3] for example an illuminated edition of Aleister Crowley's The Book of the Law.^[9]

The shop featured in the British 1971 film Gumshoe.

In the 1980s, the Odin Brotherhood used the shop as a contact point.^[10]