In 1862, Livraria Moré published the greatest success of Camilo Castelo Branco. Henceforth, the relationship between the author and Chardron was to deepen and to such an extent that years later, the author became its senior editor.

The bookstore owner won the top prize in a lottery and deployed the sum – 8 or 10 contos de réis, according to Ramalho Ortigão in the third volume of As Farpas (The Barbs) – to open up his own business and correspondingly founding the International Bookstore of Ernesto Chardron on Rua dos Clérigos in 1869. In addition to the bookstore, he also became an editor, with a daring and courageous policy that was then unusual in Portugal. In a relatively short period of time, he published a large number of books by the best Portuguese and French writers. His catalogue, today part of the Livraria Lello collection, ran to over 600 pages!

He then opened his first bookstore on Rua do Almada in Oporto all the while not knowing that the building that would carry his name for the next century was located a few blocks away.

The correspondence between Eça de Queiroz and Chardron, which we preserve in the Livraria Lello collection, tells how Os Maias had been planned as a novel running to 180 to 200 pages. In practice, the work took shape and gained volume over the course of a decade and ended up with 925 pages and, in its original edition, published in two volumes.

José Pinto de Sousa Lello, already operating as a company with his brother António Lello, gained all of the rights to the editions of all authors published by Chardron. In addition to this valuable catalogue, the Lello brothers also purchased the editorial collection of Livraria Lemos & Cª in 1898.

This inauguration took place in an ambience studded with the leading figures of that time, including the writer Guerra Junqueiro, the director of O Comércio, Bento Carqueja, the writer Júlio Brandão and Aurélio Paz dos Reis, the founding father of cinema in Portugal.

The company name of the entity holding Livraria Lello is changed to Livraria Lello & Irmão, Lda.

After a transition period in which the title Livraria Chardron de Lello & Irmão prevailed, the name Livraria Lello & Irmão began to come into usage and, in 1935, officially became the designation for the Bookstore and the Publisher. However, right through to contemporary times, the Livraria Lello facade continues to feature the name of Chardron in honour of the man greatly responsible for its priceless legacy.

In this period, Livraria Lello becomes one of the leading exporters and importers of literature in Portugal.

For the first time, the entire works of Shakespeare were translated and published in Portuguese along with other world renowned authors such as Alexandre Dumas, Gustave Flaubert, Miguel de Cervantes, Victor Hugo and Charles Darwin.

The bookstore also built up strong commercial and institutional bonds with the Brazilian and African markets.

Undertaking the first restoration and conservation works on Livraria Lello.

At this time, the emblematic staircase, hitherto brown, through a misunderstanding with the painter, ended up red. Right before this error was due to begin correction, Master Sculptor José Rodrigues saw the staircase in its new colour and was left enchanted by the effect.

Livraria Lello gets referred to for the first time as “the Prettiest Bookstore in the World”, by the Spanish writer Enrique Vila-Matas in an article published in El País.

In 2008, The Guardian newspaper considered the bookstore one of the finest in the world. In 2011, the editor of the Lonely Planet travel guides also stated this ranked as one of the best bookstores in the world, “a pearl of art nouveau".

Already into 2015, Time magazine placed Lello as among the most interesting bookstores in the world while highlighting its historical and artistic value and CNN again referred to us as the most beautiful in the world. In 2016, it was the turn of National Geographic to nominate Livraria Lello as one of the prettiest on the planet. Nowadays, Livraria Lello features on all reference lists for the world’s most iconic bookstores.

Following investment in excess of 2 million euros, the façade is restored to its original colours, the much celebrated glass display is cleaned and restored for the first time and the entire building underwent a through refurbishment in order to restore its beauty as depicted in 1906.

The Collection is made up of pocket books, with truly charming designs and surprising prefaces written by leading figures in contemporary society.

In its first edition, this was awarded to the greatest contemporary Portuguese thinker, Professor Eduardo Lourenço (23 May 1923 – 1 December 2020), and rendered this homage eternal by baptising this award with his name.

In an absolutely innovative approach, this saw the launch of a takeover bid for first editions of Os Lusíadas, Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone and Gazeta da Restauração, the first Portuguese periodical. The last two works were acquired with Livraria Lello continuing the search for the first to add to the treasures among its collection.

The two institutions, both protected and classified monuments, historical to the city and the country, are now united behind the mission of valuing culture and heritage.

With its doors closed by the Covid-19 pandemic, Livraria Lello wished to continue with its mission of getting the entire world to read and, considering the book an essential good, began offering one edition per day in a drive-thru system. Throughout the entire month of April, a total of over 10,000 books was thus distributed.

This was one of the best participated competitions of its type worldwide: attracting over 5,600 submissions from 39 different countries. A total of six winners were selected that, in addition to their financial prize, saw their works published by Livraria Lello in a multilingual collective edition.