I can still remember the first time I visited Blackwells forty years later. Standing over the Norrington Room made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
Yes - I remember finding that while randomly walking around inside Rockerfeller Center the summer of 1993. The computer science section with its wall of textbooks was indeed amazing.
Hay-on-Wye is the best bookshop, but probably gets overlooked as it’s a colony of very small bookshops that together create one village-sized bookshop.
Remember that if you have unusual books, you mostly have to sell in a shop otherwise those books don't get discovered. If you are just selling the latest best-seller, Amazon will mostly win on price.
I went there last month and bought a 2nd edition of the Art of Electronics, something I wanted but couldn't find for a reasonable price. It was about £60 on Amazon and £15 in Hay.
No affiliation, just a happy customer, but I’d recommend you check out biblio.com if you’re interested in reasonably priced, rare books.
Plenty of respectable antiquarian bookstores will list their inventory on biblio, in addition to selling them in meatspace.
Allows you to support your local bookstore, but retain an Amazon like convenience. And the people running the site seem to care about keeping local bookshops sustainable businesses, fwiw.
According to the wiki article, they used to have more bookstores than today, so many didn’t survive (changing to antique sales). It might be a case of experience it now before it’s gone.
Blackwell's I don't remember distinctly, only that it would have had to be much larger to live up to an image of it formed many years ago in the US. It was then where Americans wrote to find European books, or so my professors told me.
> The warren-like 17th-century building has played host to readings by authors ... James Joyce (who some claim is buried in the cellar)
That's just...a very Paris rumor to circulate. :) Especially in the vicinity of Notre-Dame and the catacombs.
My Shakespeare and Co. anecdote: I visited them February 2020, just before the lockdowns (in fact, the Monday following my visit, the Louvre employees would go on strike due to COVID19). I was musing about whether or not their interior layout is intentional or accidental. It seemed to me it was a maze of nooks to just rest, read, or just marvel and soak in the ambiance. It's a cozy experience you don't have to pay for to just sit on a couch, browse a book, or observe people in there.
(I did end up buying two books, because how could I not! You can get it stamped with the store logo on the cashier so you can show it off to other bibliophiles.)
If you ever find yourself overwhelmed doing tourist-y things in Paris, find Shakespeare and Co. There is/was also a nice cafe outside, you can try out.
I mean, visiting Shakespeare & Co _is_ a very touristy thing :) They have a nice selection, but it feels a bit like a well-curated tourist trap these days (pre-covid, anyway...), with a large part of the visitors mainly there to take a selfie.
Regarding Joyce: the present Shakespeare & Co is not the one of Joyce and Hemingway. That was a different store at a different location with a different owner, closed in 1941. The present one (1951-) wasn't called Shakespeare and Company until 1964. But for sure it also had its fair share of famous patrons.
My #1 recommendation for English books (new and used) in Paris would be The Abbey Bookshop, which is not far from Shakespeare & Co. Run by a friendly Canadian guy since 1989. It's quite an experience.
They've got a tiny little branch in Vienna too. Great selection and incredibly well structured for browsing. I came out with a stack of books I'd have never found otherwise.
Show some love for a dearly missed treasure: Uncle Hugo's bookstore in Minneapolis. Burned to the ground in the riots following the death of George Floyd. In this most virtual of ages, perhaps it shall rise again.
At first glance the Dujiangyan Zhongshuge Bookstore in Sichuan does look amazing, but if most of the bookshelves are actually bookshelf-patterned wallpaper then that is slightly disappointing.
The new Tianjin Binhai library is like that, though they at least use empty book covers to provide for a more immersive effect. Kind of disappointing when you realize none of those “books” are for browsing. The library is more form than function: https://www.mvrdv.nl/projects/246/tianjin-binhai-library
I am amazed that some of these shops got opened recently. Being a non user of Amazon and other online libraries I am glad for that but it is seems like a gamble to launch a bookshop in the 21st century
They started doing that some five years ago, because of tourism pressure, when Porto started getting more visitors and Lello got listed as an attraction.
Otherwise they would be mobbed by people just wanting to take a picture, and could not run a business. Not that bookstores aren't an endangered species in general ...
Booked Up in Archer City, Texas, must be remarkable. The Georgetown version was wonderful--if mostly too expensive for me--before McMurtry moved it all to Texas for lower rents and more space.
Do these bookstores with their comfy furniture allow people to do extensive reading?
Any serious review of bookstores should measure how long one can read in the same book before someone taps them on the shoulder and says "this is not a library".
As soon as I saw the headline, I thought of that bookshop in Santorini! It was an interesting/eclectic place.
The independent bookshop in the town where I grew up closed a long time ago. I suppose bookshop-as-an-experience is the only way to compete with the likes of Amazon.
Experience is important. It is obviously much quicker to browse hundreds of books in-store. Amazon is cheaper (usually) if you know what you are looking for.
Sometimes, books are cheaper, especially second-hand, in a store compared to Amazon. If that seller sells the same thing on Amazon, they need to bump the price to cover delivery and Amazon's cut.
Hay-on-Wye in Wales is a town of bookshops! Def worth a visit if you like books.
I wonder what would be closest to a Michelin star guide to bookstores/libraries around the world? Not only top 10/25 or whatever, but a list of exceptionally good bookstores all around.
I used to like bookstores.i loved the old Donner in Rotterdam(the new one is a big downgrade). But since moving from there and also living far from the center it increasingly didn't make much sense anymore to go to a bookstore. Now on Amazon you don't get like half an hour to look at a book so that's a disadvantage. But I'm lazy and Amazon is convenient. They're not dear either.
I don't have any influence over secular trends that are guided by the purchasing decisions of millions. It would be the height of arrogance to think in such terms.
Portland’s little secret was Powell’s technical bookstore. It was rarely busy in there and all the latest text books you can find. In the days before resources were available online, I learned most of my math and sciences in that little bookstore after undergrad.
Stanford’s small engineering bookstore was something similar in Palo Alto. I’m not sure if it’s around anymore, it’s been 20 years since I visited after all.
It was nice to browse a bunch of high end engineering and CS books. These days I just go for finding papers online.
Not a bookshop, but I found the design of Stockholm's public library to be excellent too[1]. It was designed by the Swedish architect, Gunnar Asplund.
The same gentleman was also one of the architects of the stunning woodland cemetery, Skogskyrkogården[2], located just outside of Stockholm. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site, that beautifully blends nature and landscape to create a tranquil atmosphere. Absolutely worth visiting if you're Stockholm.
I miss the days when Cambridge (UK) was Heffers, Heffers, and Heffers. The main Heffers on Trinity Street, children's Heffers, Art and Architecture Heffers, Heffers Maps, Heffers Art Goods, Heffers Paperbacks and Videos, Heffers in the Grafton Centre. I've probably missed a few!
As a student, I used to stock up on books and foreign magazines at that Bertrand in Rua Garret. It was most of the side of small street block, a series of large rooms, each with its topic. Good stuff for youngsters at the back, I had to cross the whole store.
The best bookshops don't get written about by the Financial Times. They are found in small and mid-sized jurisdictions (often university towns) where the of ageing population is getting rid of books faster than the younger population is consuming them. They are dark inside—direct sunlight damages books—and they don't waste time or money on extravagant decor. The collection does the talking.
The best bookshops do not necessarily sell used books (with reference to the «ageing population»). Although it is nice that that used books find new "life" with new loving owners.
Now "spill some beans", since you hint you know some places ;)
> The best bookshops do not necessarily sell used books (with reference to the «ageing population»).
Fair point. There are some cool new bookstores. I had used book shops in mind because to me they really offer something that the internet (or, god forbid, 'the metaverse') will never really touch. Tactile, olfactory, and completely at the mercy of contingency. Maybe some philosophy professor decided to unload some of his collection. A local writer dropped off some poetry volumes where the margins are filled with their own notes. Stuff like that. You can get lots of cool stuff on Abe books but it's not the same as combing the shelves.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 128 ms ] threadhttps://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-norrington-room
Edit: or, at the Bass family Strand - "18 Miles of Books" - in NY.
Remember that if you have unusual books, you mostly have to sell in a shop otherwise those books don't get discovered. If you are just selling the latest best-seller, Amazon will mostly win on price.
I went there last month and bought a 2nd edition of the Art of Electronics, something I wanted but couldn't find for a reasonable price. It was about £60 on Amazon and £15 in Hay.
Plenty of respectable antiquarian bookstores will list their inventory on biblio, in addition to selling them in meatspace.
Allows you to support your local bookstore, but retain an Amazon like convenience. And the people running the site seem to care about keeping local bookshops sustainable businesses, fwiw.
For your search: https://biblio.co.uk/search.php?stage=1&title=art+of+electro...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigtown#Scotland's_National_Bo...
- I'm surprised "Ler devagar" is there and not Lello (https://www.livrarialello.pt/en/about-livraria-lello)
- I find Blackwell's in Oxford underwhelming and surprised Barter Books[0] (https://www.barterbooks.co.uk/) is not there instead
[0] Trivia: Barter books was were the "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster was re-discovered, in storage. After being forgotten by History.
It works mostly as if it were an amusement park. You can even buy online a 17€ priority-jump-the-line-ticket.
That's just...a very Paris rumor to circulate. :) Especially in the vicinity of Notre-Dame and the catacombs.
My Shakespeare and Co. anecdote: I visited them February 2020, just before the lockdowns (in fact, the Monday following my visit, the Louvre employees would go on strike due to COVID19). I was musing about whether or not their interior layout is intentional or accidental. It seemed to me it was a maze of nooks to just rest, read, or just marvel and soak in the ambiance. It's a cozy experience you don't have to pay for to just sit on a couch, browse a book, or observe people in there.
(I did end up buying two books, because how could I not! You can get it stamped with the store logo on the cashier so you can show it off to other bibliophiles.)
If you ever find yourself overwhelmed doing tourist-y things in Paris, find Shakespeare and Co. There is/was also a nice cafe outside, you can try out.
Regarding Joyce: the present Shakespeare & Co is not the one of Joyce and Hemingway. That was a different store at a different location with a different owner, closed in 1941. The present one (1951-) wasn't called Shakespeare and Company until 1964. But for sure it also had its fair share of famous patrons.
My #1 recommendation for English books (new and used) in Paris would be The Abbey Bookshop, which is not far from Shakespeare & Co. Run by a friendly Canadian guy since 1989. It's quite an experience.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/03/books/moes-books-berkeley...
If you took a left turn in Albuquerque, you can stop at Page One Books and wander around. I love their huge used bookshop, Page One Too:
https://www.abebooks.com/page-one-too-albuquerque-nm-u.s.a/5...
Show some love for a dearly missed treasure: Uncle Hugo's bookstore in Minneapolis. Burned to the ground in the riots following the death of George Floyd. In this most virtual of ages, perhaps it shall rise again.
http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/index.shtml
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/22/supermarket...
Still very much worth a visit, it's stunning!
Otherwise they would be mobbed by people just wanting to take a picture, and could not run a business. Not that bookstores aren't an endangered species in general ...
Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, MA is my favourite. Fiercely independent. Great selection. Several calendar events.
Any serious review of bookstores should measure how long one can read in the same book before someone taps them on the shoulder and says "this is not a library".
The independent bookshop in the town where I grew up closed a long time ago. I suppose bookshop-as-an-experience is the only way to compete with the likes of Amazon.
Sometimes, books are cheaper, especially second-hand, in a store compared to Amazon. If that seller sells the same thing on Amazon, they need to bump the price to cover delivery and Amazon's cut.
Hay-on-Wye in Wales is a town of bookshops! Def worth a visit if you like books.
That experience may simply just be a very rich and organized collection, tailored for book lovers.
If you mainly shopped online, how easy are you making it for the preservation of the option of accessing the real thing?
If you mainly shopped through a monopoly, how easy are you making it to ensure that prices remain contained?
BTW:
> I don't have any influence ... It would be the height of arrogance
With this you have been convincing: you really must be lazy as you say, pal :)
It was nice to browse a bunch of high end engineering and CS books. These days I just go for finding papers online.
Great for your Insta I guess, look good pretending to like books?
It's so shit it's not even on tripadvisor, others in that chain are, it's not even the best one in the series.
Literally all the articles about it didn't even go there. I guess that's brilliant these days, looks good online, not IRL.
Video -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU6qEhxyGdk
The same gentleman was also one of the architects of the stunning woodland cemetery, Skogskyrkogården[2], located just outside of Stockholm. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site, that beautifully blends nature and landscape to create a tranquil atmosphere. Absolutely worth visiting if you're Stockholm.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Public_Library#/medi...
[2] https://skogskyrkogarden.stockholm.se/in-english/architectur...
https://www.fromlusttilldawn.com/boekhandel-dominicanen-the-...
https://www.oldest.org/culture/bookstores/
As a student, I used to stock up on books and foreign magazines at that Bertrand in Rua Garret. It was most of the side of small street block, a series of large rooms, each with its topic. Good stuff for youngsters at the back, I had to cross the whole store.
Now "spill some beans", since you hint you know some places ;)
Fair point. There are some cool new bookstores. I had used book shops in mind because to me they really offer something that the internet (or, god forbid, 'the metaverse') will never really touch. Tactile, olfactory, and completely at the mercy of contingency. Maybe some philosophy professor decided to unload some of his collection. A local writer dropped off some poetry volumes where the margins are filled with their own notes. Stuff like that. You can get lots of cool stuff on Abe books but it's not the same as combing the shelves.
> spill some beans
my lips are sealed