On night of 29 – 30 December 1940 , the German Air Force conducted one of the most destructive air raids of the Blitz . Approximately 100,000 bombs , many of them incendiary , fell on the city , causing what an American correspondent called the '' Second Great Fire of London '' . Though not intentionally targeted , one of the most heavily damaged parts of London was the vicinity of Ave Maria Lane and Paternoster Row , an area known since the 19th century as the center of the London publishing and book trade , . The buildings and stock of 20 publishing houses were totally or partially destroyed . Stationers ' Hall , neighbouring offices , the book wholesalers Simpkin Marshall , and several bookshops were lost . An estimated five million books were lost in the fires caused by tens of thousands of incendiary bombs - including , on the one hand , old and rare books and on the other the whole or most of the print run of recently published books
Second Great Fire of London
Second Great Fire of London
List of book-burning incidents