Oxford bookseller Blackwell's sold to Waterstones

The first Blackwell's shop was opened in Broad Street, Oxford, in 1879

Waterstones has bought the family-owned bookseller Blackwell's, as its outgoing owner said it was "the right time" to secure its future.

The company had been owned by the Blackwell family since its founder opened his first bookshop in Oxford in 1879.

Toby Blackwell, its president, said "finding a new home" for it was "an extraordinary challenge".

Waterstones also bought family-owned bookseller Foyles in 2018.

Mr Blackwell said Waterstones had shown since that it "understands the advantages and benefits of holding diverse iconic bookselling brands".

"I view them not just as a buyer of the business but as the right buyer at the right time," he said.

"This is a positive outcome for Waterstones, Blackwell's and all our customers in the UK and abroad, who will still be able to enjoy the individual nature of what both brands offer."

Waterstones runs 291 bookshops - including this one in York - and has branches in Ireland, Brussels and Amsterdam

James Daunt, Waterstones' managing director, said it hopes to "secure the future of [Blackwell's] wonderful bookshops".

He said Blackwell's - which ran 24 stores, including four in Oxford - is "amongst the most illustrious names in bookselling, a legacy for which we have the utmost respect".

Benjamin Henry Blackwell opened his first bookshop on Broad Street in Oxford on New Year's Day in 1879.

His son Basil - later Sir Basil - joined the company in 1913 and the company first expanded outside Oxford in 1929, when it bought George's in Bristol.

Blackwell's Norrington Room in its Broad Street store was one of the world's largest single displays of books in one room when it was built in 1966

It expanded its Broad Street shop in 1938 and opened its Norrington Room in 1966.

Built after tunnelling underneath the grounds of Trinity College, Oxford, and named after its then president, Sir Arthur Norrington, it held the world record for the single largest room used to sell books.

Blackwell's first went online in 1995 and it bought Heffers in Cambridge in 1999 and Thins in Edinburgh in 2002.