Come in. Browse. Stay a while.
Bestseller is one of those Dublin cafes that is worth going out of your way for, whether you are after speciality coffee, great food, or simply a few minutes inside one of the most beautiful interiors on Dawson Street. Located two minutes from St. Stephen's Green and five minutes from Grafton Street, it is an easy addition to any day in the city centre.
Bestseller is Steeped in History
Bestseller was once an independent bookshop, located in a striking building on Dawson Stree one of the city’s finest Georgian streets. Today, it has been transformed into a lively café and wine bar, complete with jazz nights and theatre performances with Glass Mask Theatre. Formerly the bookshop of the National Bible Society of Ireland, the building has stood at the centre of the street since 1927 and carries a history that traces back to the founding of the Dublin Bible Society in 1806. One of Dawson Street's most remarkable addresses.
Designed by architect George Palmer Beater and completed in 1927, 41 Dawson Street is a rare and beautiful example of early twentieth-century commercial architecture in Dublin, with details that reward those who know to look for them.
The Curved Brass Display Windows
The shopfront's most distinctive feature: two curved brass-framed display windows with colonette mullions and deep decorative leaded top-lights containing Art Nouveau stained glass. When the sun shines through, they throw colour down onto the window display and the paving below. The two central panes curve inwards to create a recessed entrance, a design detail almost impossible to find elsewhere in the city.
The Carved Door Surround
'Bible House' is carved into the stone surround of the central door a naming of the building in the tradition of great civic and ecclesiastical architecture. Above the carved inscription, a scrolled pediment and frieze carry the lettering with quiet authority. The glazed panelled timber door retains its original brass furniture and a matching pediment with carved lettering at its base. It is a door worth pausing at.
The Mosaic Monogram
Set into the tiled porch floor like a welcome mat, the mosaic monogram of the Hibernian Bible Society, along with the inscription 'HBS' and 'Founded AD 1806'. A small detail that most people walk over without noticing. Once you see it, it becomes one of those Dublin discoveries that makes the city feel endlessly layered.
Two hundred years of remarkable history.
The story of Bestseller and the National Bible Society of Ireland is one of survival, resilience, and extraordinary loss stretching from the founding of the Dublin Bible Society in 1806, through the destruction of the Irish Civil War, to the opening of 41 Dawson Street and its life as a bookshop ever since.