Door to Duty Free Warehouse no.2	Storage room

Mr Walker, the bookseller sold his premises to the City Council for the price of £250 on 27.12 1858, including the storage area under the great staircase. His premises may not have been optimal for the storing of books due to the fairly high humidity with the proximity of the North Loch.

In August 1996, books and business records were found gathering dust amid debris of ruined furniture in a pitch black vault. Richard Hunter, the City Council Archivist, identified one book as a bookseller's ledger of books sent to various binders in Edinburgh from 1788 to 1793. Some twelve ledgers and thirty books, most of them bearing the same medical title were recovered.

Although Mary King's Close is the most famous, there are actually four closes deep beneath the City Chambers. Allan's Close is known to have been home to a late 18th century bookbinder and this is the site the archivist stumbled on. A large oval table turned out in torchlight to read "Forsyth & Fowler Booksellers and Stationers". R. Hunter believes Forsyth was a bookbinder and Fowler had previously had a business in Blair Street.