The people's bookshop

In 1903, two teenage brothers, William and Gilbert Foyle, failed their Civil Service exams and decided to sell their textbooks. Three years later, they had founded six London branches of Foyle's, whose reputation over the following century grew to establish it as the country's most famous bookshop, and one of the best-known in the world.

To celebrate its centenary, Foyle's has produced a souvenir book replete with photographs and anecdotes detailing the history of the shop and the family - the company is run by Christopher Foyle and Bill Samuel, William's grandsons - and offering a unique record of literary life over the past 100 years.

From the outset, the Foyle brothers were extraordinarily industrious in the breadth of their projects, many of which foreshadow the kind of initiatives we think of as modern inventions in the book trade. In addition to running the shops and a demanding mail order system, these encompassed an Educational Textbook Department, a Library Department (with outlets in every main town in Britain, supplying books for twopence to subscribers), Book Clubs, an art gallery (its motto 'Art For All'), an educational Film Club and a Lecture Agency, supplying speakers to luncheon clubs.

The premise of all these developments was to make art and literature available to a wider audience; in spite of the illustrious names who later became associated with the shop and its famed Literary Luncheons, William's vision was always to promote what he called 'The People's Bookshop' (a phrase which, at the turn of the last century, retained some nobility of sentiment).

The brothers, William in particular, emerge as imaginative, committed and eccentric characters, so it follows that much of the shop's charm and reputation was due to a kindred eccentricity in business practices. (There is a lovely anecdote from William's diaries recalling how he hired a chauffeur and then forgot the appointment, so that when the man turned up to work, William decided he must be a long-forgotten friend and invited him in for drinks and dinner.)

Foyle's was reputed to stock every book you could imagine in its Charing Cross shop, but the customer had to do the often dirty business of truffling for it through the 30 miles of dust-burdened shelves and idiosyncratic cataloguing. An endearing level of old-fashioned trust was placed in the customers, too: my mother recalls how, when teaching at a French university in the Sixties, she would order packages of books from Foyle's for her students, then collect the money and send it back once the parcel arrived.

Less scrupulous overseas customers, and the apparent ease of theft from the store, gave the company ongoing financial problems; William's daughter Christina was often dispatched abroad to collect bad debts. On one occasion, President Perón was approached to intervene in the outstanding debt of an Argentine university (he regretted that he couldn't help, but sent Christina a crocodile case instead).

It was Christina who began the Foyle's Literary Luncheons in 1930, at the age of 19. Prompted by the curiosity shown by customers regarding the personal habits and oddities attributed to famous writers, she had the idea of organising events at which members of the public could hear their favourite authors speak and meet them afterwards - a precursor of modern literary festivals and the kind of author publicity we take for granted. Her idea was scorned by the first writers she approached; Shaw said it was hopeless to try such a novel idea in England, but that she might have some success in New York, and HG Wells explained that the letters he received from his readers convinced him that he had no desire to meet any of them in the flesh.

Last week, Foyle's celebrated the 700th Literary Luncheon at the Grosvenor House Hotel, with speakers including Edward Heath, Roy Hattersley, Kate Adie, Rachel Billington, Gyles Brandreth and Christopher Foyle, who took over the shop after his aunt Christina's death in 1999.

He spoke of the shop's remarkable heritage, and of the delicate touch required in bringing it out of miring debt and into a competitive, modern mode of bookselling without compromising the character that has made Foyle's unique. This has meant dispensing with the less endearing method of handwritten chits for each purchase (there is a poem by Wendy Cope in the book describing how she always gave up on the lengthy queues and left the shop bookless), but maintaining the reputation for well-informed, literate staff and a diverse stock.

In a market dominated by chain retailers, it is to be hoped that Foyle's can continue the vision of its founders towards its next centenary.

· Foyle's: A Celebration is published by Foyle's Books, £12.99