Heffer Gallery

William Heffer (1844-1928) opened his first shop at 104 Fitzroy Street, Cambridge, in July 1876. He traded in ‘fancy goods’ as well as books and stationery. In 1888, he broke the London booksellers’ monopoly of the textbook trade by offering a 25 per cent discount despite enormous hostility for the town's other booksellers. He had 9 children, seven of whom became directors of the firm and five worked in the various shops. His grandsons, John and Reuben Heffer, became responsible for the stationery and bookselling operations from the 1940's and his great-grandson, Nicholas, also worked in the business until the time of his retirement in 1999.

It is not known exactly when Heffers began selling fine art. What is known is that before World War II, the Sidney Street branch had an art gallery on the top floor, and in 1937, they held an exhibition of the works of the Ipswich Fine Art Club. In 1949, Bryan Robertson (1925-2002), art critic and writer, became curator of the gallery, a post he held for three years. He veered the 'stock' away from the Victorian watercolours and prints and encouraged the younger fashionable artists to exhibit. These included the likes of Josef Herman, Merlyn Evans and Cecil Collins amongst many. Also shown were the works of ceramicists such as Lucie Rie and Bernard Leech. The firm was sold to Blackwell’s, in 1999, and the art exhibition side of the business ceased to exist.