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The 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores in the World

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With Amazon slowly taking over the publishing world and bookstores closing left and right, things can sometimes seem a little grim for the brick and mortar booksellers of the world. After all, why would anyone leave the comfort of their couch to buy a book when with just a click of a button, they could have it delivered to their door? Well, here’s why: bookstores so beautiful they’re worth getting out of the house (or the country) to visit whether you need a new hardcover or not. We can’t overestimate the importance of bookstores — they’re community centers, places to browse and discover, and monuments to literature all at once — so we’ve put together a list of the most beautiful bookstores in the world, from Belgium to Japan to Slovakia. Just so you know now, all you bookstore fiends: neither the Strand nor Powell’s is on this list. They’re both great bookstores, of course, but not particularly pretty (at least in our minds), and thus disqualified. Click through to see our picks for the most beautiful bookstores in the world, and as always, if we’ve left off your favorite, be sure to add to the collection in the comments!

A gorgeous converted Dominican church gives the power of reading its due diligence. Selexyz Bookstore, Maastricht, Holland

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Comments (262)

Chapters, a Canadian chain, has a location in Toronto that used to be a playhouse. Formerly the Runnymede Theatre, it is now the Runnymede Chapters. If you’re going to be a non-independent bookseller, this is the sort of location to be one in. Looking for an image, I found this blog posting.
http://citywatching.com/2010/05/13/theatre-acoustics-make-big-box-sale/

Who ever made this search is most appreciated

that is a beautiful place for a bookstore. but it would be nice to include a library. i don’t know but there may be a problem with this concept. any comments?

The photos in this post are incredible! You inspired my blog post today! I have put a link to this page on my site. Thank you!

These photos need to be made into a calendar

Absolutely beautiful bookstores! I hope one day I can add a brick and mortar store to my current online presence.

Truly extraordinary, and so very inspiring. I think, though, that one element is missing from the text: it’s not so much about click-to-buy VS get-outta-the-house…. it’s really about the sensual joy of discovery. When one searches online, one necessarily orients one’s search. When one walks into a bookstore (even a much more humble one that this…) it’s like walking into a singles bar: you might know your “type”, but surprises lurk around every corner….

Any suggestions for unique/beautiful bookstores in NYC?

Woooooow!!! Estas imágenes en verdad me emocionaron y estremecieron mi alma…ahora se cuales son los 20 lugares q anhelo conocer antes de morir!!!

Don’t forget about Hennessey + Ingalls in Santa Monica, CA. Been in business for 40+ years. Family owned and there current location was designed by local architecture firm Marmol & Radziner.

Shame on you!
You didn’t include the Book Barn of Eastern Pennsylvania!

About half of these fabulous places must have moldy books, because of damp and difficulty in heating the spaces. Still, I would love to visit every one and spend a full day and a fortune in each !

I’ve been to the bookstore in Maastricht!! Definitely one of my favorite visit ever!

“20 reasons not to buy a kindle”

And Full Circle Bookstore, Oklahoma City!

What a pleasure for lovers of bookstores, these are amazing backdrops for book browsing & dreaming! For libraries the University of Chicago’s brand new glass domed Mansueto Library is a post modern miracle, come & visit.

For atmosphere and history over style, don’t forget City Lights in San Fran http://www.citylights.com/ my favourite bookstore in the world!

the problem was that you are unable to buy local Taiwan books in VVG Something, Taipei, Taiwan, tho bookstore was only sold Japanese / EMEA / USA Art books. Also you can not sitting down to read a book in this bookstore.

Beautiful piece!

*sigh*…of the places on this list, i’ve only been to the american center in amsterdam. and i was just in tokyo, but read about the t-site AFTER i got back home. doh!

Hay-on-Wye, snuggled in the easternmost part of the Brecon Beacons Wales near the English border, is a town that pulses around its used book stores; it is a book-town entire if there ever was one. The most beautiful store – even if the selection is only made of musty old things nobody wants – is arguably the open air Honesty bookshop, a collection of run down shelves full of decaying tomes surrounding the the 12th century Hay Castle grounds. Should you be tempted by any of their contents, just deposit £0.50 in the collection box; nobody will check, thus the name. But the beauty of Hay is crawling along it’s streets and alleys, a web of dozens of stores each special in its own quaintness. That is, unless the Hay Literary Festival is going on, in which case it is more like a book lover’s Mardi Gras (you decide whether that’s good or bad).

These are all wonderful, and I’m fortunate enough to have visited five of those listed. Any list like this is always going to have comments about what has been missed – so here is mine.

Hatchards (image – http://www.pennybloodsblackbook.com/media/hatchards.gif). I love the feeling of wandering from room to room to nook to cranny, all filled with wonderful books. But I love it not just for the place, the history, the illustrious list of customers past and present – but also for the staff. They are so knowledgeable, well-read and kind to their customers.

On a visit some years ago an elderly lady was asking when a particular writer would publish his next book. She couldn’t remember the name of the writer or the exact title but she described the last book of his. The staff member figured out which writer she meant, suggested that as the writer was in his late 80s and not well, it might best not to expect a new book soon, and went on to recommend two other writers of the same genre that the customer might enjoy.

I have been a fan ever since.

a wonderful idea – bookstores will always exist and though its very practical – amazon will never replace the touch-and-feel of a real bookshop

Wow, the U.S. seems to be grossly underrepresented in this wonderful list. Now that I think about it, there are a lot of beautiful public libraries in the U.S., including the grandiose New York Public Library building next to Bryant Park and the palatial Library of Congress. Universities too have great libraries–the University of Michigan Law Library being the most impressive and the intimate Mt. Holyoke College main library making the best impression. But this country seriously has a dearth of whimsical or architecturally impressive bookstores. All I can recall are corporate, boxy Barnes & Nobles. The most unique Barnes & Noble is in Union Square, but that’s about it. All the great and memorable bookstores I’ve visited have been in Europe or the Middle East–Cairo has some hidden gems in its back alleys. That is a crying shame, especially since NYC has a lot of abandoned 1920s movie palaces that could be spruced up to look as impressive and memorable as the Buenos Aires bookstore…

Great list but you’ve missed the gorgeous Daunt Books in Marleybone, London. Like a victorian reading room, complete with glasshouse roof.

You need to include Alexandra’s Books in Budapest. Really beautiful!

Fabulous piece – though sorry not to see Daunt Books (London), Slightly Foxed (London), or Hall’s Bookshop (Tunbridge Wells, personal favourites of mine, each with an inimitable charm and historical resonance

Planning a vacation around bookstores now, tyvm! (now to get on that winning the lottery plan so I can afford it)

@ New New Yorker: Alas, the best bookstores in NYC are long gone. I suppose Three Lives is kind of cute. But Rand McNally & St Marks, though they may be pretty good bookstores and NYC is lucky to have them (& should support them), aren’t anything special to look at. Book Culture up near Columbia is perhaps the best bookstore left in Manhattan, but also not exactly charming. I think Unnameable Books on Vanderbilt in Brooklyn is both an excellent small bookstore w/ an intelligent selection of new & used books and its own distinctive feel. There are some others in Brooklyn that are also interesting, but Unnameable is my favorite.

Wow, I can’t believe with the thousands of times I have been to the Netherlands, not to have gone to one of them. The best one is the one in Maastricht… actually scrap that, it’s too many gorgeous stores to compare.

Whilst the Bookworm in Beijing is a cool bookstore, it’s certainly not one of the most beautiful in the world. Not sure why it’s here?

Books & Books in Coral Gables, FL. Makes you want to linger and buy and come back tje next day. Every city im America should be so lucky to have a treasure like this. And guess what? It’s working! They have three locations (I’ve only seen the CoralGables one) with plans to open another. You must check it out.

Okay, these are out o this world beautiful, but some beauty is more of a longing fulfilled, a nostalgia satisfied. Books & Books is that kind of beautiful. What about Rizzoli on W 57th Street?

I noticed there were no mideastern countries represented.

And don’t forget, in the U.S., the gorgeous Lemuria Bookstore in Jackson, MS.

It is missing the Rosario Castellanos bookstore, in México City. It is also a masterpiece of Art Deco and modernity living together.

The Strand in NYC.

Don’t miss Mr B’s Emporium Of Reading Delights in Bath, England.

I agree Rizzoli is beautiful! I haven’t been to Unnameable or Books Culture, I’ll check them out, thanks for the tip

I’d nominate the underground bookstore in Coober Pedy. It’s a marvelous place to spend a hot summer day in the desert.

Wow! Beautiful places to spend long hours browsing, reading or simply relaxing (with a cup of coffee, if possible ;)

And I was pleasantly surprised to see El Pendulo included on the list. It’s a place I visit regularly, and of course it deserves the mention…

Look at these and weep the next time you walk into a Chapters/Indigo….

I’ve being to this Selexyz Bookstore, in Maastricht. It’s really gorgeous! And I had the chance to talk to Ton Harmes, the manager, and listen to the story of the place, which is also great.

i live in my own bookshop/hermitage/home = WEYMOUTH, ENGLAND = m,ore poetry available than in any bookshop i’ve visited in the southwest. At the right price everything in hermitage is up for sale eg the house itself and / or around 600 black sparrow 1st editions. Unique in these isles i’m certain. Sell everything and retire to mountain !

This has now become a goal of mine to visit all these :)

Looking at those gorgeous pictures, I can almost smell the books–you know what I mean, that faintly musty scent of old paper and aging leather. I love my eReader, but it has no smell.

The Runnymede Chapters in Toronto is definitely a deserving candidate.

This is a dream far away from Brazil! Architects and design professionals could work together to build the library!

Interesting that with two or three exceptions, these stores are all in non-English-speaking countries. I’m not sure what that means since Amazon has a global presence – or is at least in France and Germany, in addition to U.S., Canada and U.K.

Only one I’ve ever been to is Shakespeare &Co., you are missing Titcomb’s Bookshop in E. Sandwich, Ma. USA!

Yep, another vote for Daunt Books in Marylebone, London – a true beauty.

I could quite happily sit for hours in any of these incredible shops but why in the picture of Barter Books was the mural, of some of the best authors ever, not included?

I can’t help but think that these photos beg the question: How do these spectacular and expansive stores thrive and survive while so many stores in North America are closing? Obviously they are doing something right, and it would be great if their formula for success could be replicated in the US & Canada.

Another vote for Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights (Bath, UK) and Daunt Books (Marylebone, London). Daunt is in a gorgeous building, and Mr B’s is beautifully decorated (plus they have their own dog!).

♥BOOK LOFT
631 S 3rd St
Columbus, OH 43206
Neighborhood: German Village

Lovely, and should add the Elliot Bay Bookstore in Seattle, Powell’s City of Books in Portland, and Auntie’s Bookstore in Spokane, Washington.

Please publish this list (and add another 30 or so) as a beautifully bound art book!

You must see Elwert University Bookshop in the old part of Marburg an der Lahn in Germany. http://www.elwert.de

William Stout Books in San Francisco is an amazing place for lovers of architecture, design, fine art and gardening. Not a spectacular interior as many on this top 20 list but a truly unique spot of floor to ceiling books tucked inside the Jackson Square district.

The new Reader’s Feast in Melbourne (Collins St) is in the old George’s building, just beautiful. Chandeliers and beautiful arch ways and columns!

It might be cutest, rather than most beautiful, but anyone near the Twin Cities should visit The Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis. On top of a cool interior design, the store is home to four cats, three chickens (free ranging), two ferrets, two chinchillas, several rats (in a habitat with a see through lid below the floor of the haunted house), some pigeons, and some cockatoos. http://www.wildrumpusbooks.com/rumpushistory

Munro’s bookstore in Victoria, B.C. should be in here too.

I was just about to recommend Munro’s beautiful bookstore in Victoria, B.C., Canada, when I noticed someone else just has. Well worth the trip from Australia!

New York was hard hit by monsters Barnes & Noble and Amazon. But New Yorkers did it to themselves — browse at an independent then buy at discount. So many wonderful institutions withered and died: Gotham, Books & Co., Endicott, Shakespeare & Co. on upper Broadway, the elegant Scribner’s store on Fifth Avenue. Specialty stores like Biography Books on Bleecker. but the Strand has expanded, someone mentioned Three Lives, St. Marks in the East Village . . . and maybe the idiots in charge of B&N will run it into the ground and the independents will rise again. And maybe not, no thanks to the ebook.

Favorite bookstores in NYC: 192 Books, Corner Bookstore, the Mysterious Bookshop

B&N maybe going out but I have a feeling the indie bookstore is making a come back!

Yes, Munroes in BC is lovely!

I’m definitely traveling the world just to see all of these bookstores. I’ve intended to do so for a while now.

Don’t forget Alexandra in Budapest and Boulder Books in – well, Boulder.

Those are really impressive!

Super super super love!! Thank you to whoever thought of making this list & to the photogs who’ve done an EXCELLENT job. Have seen only one of the 20, God willing will get to see some more.

Hope ebooks & environmentalism doesn’t kill off bookstores completely. There’s really such a joy in going to a bookstore and getting lost in it.

This is wonderful! Bryant Barron (Tuesday Jan 31, 2012 at 4:36 pm) suggested you include a library – I suggest you do a whole study on libraries, and would start by nominating the library of the city of Bilbao (if you photograph it at night from the outside, the books form part of the architecture of the building) and the TEA in Tenerife, Canary Islands.

So Proud!!! Beautiful brazilian Bookstore!!!

Libreria Acqua Alta is a tiny bookshop in a converted gondola-repair workshop in Venice, Italy. THere’s a gondola loaded with books in the centre, and cats weave their way around the piles of books.

Faltou o Gabinete Português de Leitura no Rio de Janeiro.

Que hermoso realmente espectacular !! Uno de tantos links de categoría que me ha enviado mi hijo.

Due *deference*. Not “diligence.” Due diligence is a legal term meaning one has done the proper research.

Wow! This is an awesome post!

Buchhandlung zum Wetzstein (Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany) should definitely be on this list.

To be honest, the best thing about Barter Books is not the ’rounded ceiling’ or the ‘decorative lighting’: It’s the fact that it’s AN OLD TRAIN STATION. There are high level model trains, there’s plentiful cheap coffee in the old waiting rooms, and it’s the very shop where they rediscovered the ‘Keep Calm And Carry On’ poster! And, yeah, the mural too.

Still, cheers for using my photos – always nice to see them getting out there!

It might not reach the top 20 ones included here, but Prospero’s book store in Tbilisi, Georgia is gorgeous little combined book store and cafe, with a beautiful little outdoor place. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area.

As a former bookstore owner I have to say that viewing some of these photos takes my breath away.
Thank you

I agree with Julie: Boulder Books, Boulder, CO, is a beautiful store.

These stores look fantastic. I guess I have some things to cross off my bucket list.

These bookstores are beautiful! The one in Paris is my favorite.

powerhouse books in DUMBO, brooklyn (NY) is a pretty cool space

Nice to see Bart’s in Ojai, CA on the list!

I know this year Livraria Lello in Oporto, Portugal. So beautiful library and so charm and good place to visit in a trip.
I really recomend visit there!

I’d have to say there are some bookstores in Sydney that compete with the last few bookstores on this list. Dissapointed…The first bookstore, set in what looks like a cathedral, is mind blowing. Very impressive

They’re breathtaking!!!!Eslite chain stores in Taiwan have its own character and style each store.

beautiful!!! I would LOVE to do a world tour, of libraries and bookstores… I’m just a little bit excited :)

I’ll second the vote for Prospero’s Books and Caliban’s Coffeehouse. Not arthouse or Like many businesses on Rustaveli (the main drag in Tbilisi), you enter Prospero’s via its courtyard,from which one door leads to a tiny gallery of local arts and crafts, and two separate doors lead into Prospero’s. One door takes you to the language books and reference section and the other into the general books and coffee shop, with lounge chairs and a fireplace. I understand the young coffee shop staff are part of a youth training program. There’s a couple of (not very exciting) photos here http://www.prosperosbookshop.com/ but the atmosphere is really lovely.

I second the Barnes & Nobel in Rochester, MN, near the Mayo Clinic, an international health care destination. It’s in an old theatre and is beautiful.

As an avid bookworm, my God, are these great bookstores? They are the greatest! I can stay here for months, even perhaps years just trying to absorb how intricately they focused on interior designs for the bookstore. I love the one in Holland, its heavenly.

I wished I can see those myself.

Some wonderful bookshops – but perhaps next time you could include the Old China Hand Reading Room in Shanghai, with its wonderfully nostalgic recreation of the vanished inter-war era.

Wow – these are incredible – now I will have to revisit all of these cities to check out these beautiful book shops!

I am an Australian bookseller and congratulate you on celebrating bookstores as well as books. This is no doubt not the done thing, but nevertheless I want you to ‘bookmark’ our store as one to watch for possible entry to this list in the future. We have just moved into an iconic Melbourne, Victoria building called Georges built in 1880. It was renovated in the 1990s and today is a mix of the old and the new….lovely old columns and modern lightwells. We are an independent bookstore that has survived corporate life and gone out on our own after 20 years. thank you again for this wonderful collection of bookstores.

I remember being in a bookstore in Prague a few years ago, can’t remember the name but if I should go back there I would be able to find it again.
Reminded about the Shakespear one in Paris, books covered everything, tables were made from books, lots of narrow coridors, kind of resembled Olivanders from the first Harry Potter film.
They had free hot chocolate as well.

Riverbend Books, Bulimba, Brisbane, Queensland has a wondrously inviting atmosphere. It may be the way the books are displayed, the service or the crowds of browsing customers. I just know that every visit reveals more books that I must read.

*homer-esque drool*

Wow one day i shall visit these book stores! :O

Some are nice, but best in the world? Really? My local Barnes & Noble is better than some of these. Some are just stark, modern stores. No warm, roomy, comfortable spots to read a little. Not impressed . Not at all.

How is there nothing from Germany? Where bookstores have multistory slides and carousels surely there is something worth noting!

D.G. Wills in La Jolla, CA is a books bookstore. It says “books” – Dennis the owner also manages to get authors into read (includes Vidal, Mailer, Crick etc…). narrow, cramped, but the book is the thing.

This is amazing!!! I’m attempting to read as many books as humanly possible in 2012 and writing about my experiences at http://erinsbibliomania.blogspot.com/ and I feel as though you’ve created a travel challenge for me as well!

Honorable mention for Books & Books in Coral Gables, Miami. Small but smart, it centers around a lovely tropical garden with (key feature) a wine bar!

The Tsutaya in Daikanyama, Tokyo truly is impressive as far as comfort and luxury — for any bibliophile, it’s amazing to experience how much some people are still willing to invest in reading.

In NYC: Printed Matter and Dashwood Books, easily.

The United States has some equally awe-inspiring bookstores and it’s a shame to have left so many of them out. Here’s to Flavorwire publishing the 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores in the United States.

I LOVED this!!! Incredible. Thank you from a proud bookseller!!

It’s so shameful that not a single Russian place is on here. I would have thought something in St. Petersburg, but maybe it was gutted so that it stopped being beautiful? Or maybe it was just overlooked. Nonetheless, for what might be the world’s most reading nation, Russia deserves to have a bookstore on this list :-)

This is an amazing bookstore. I hope it never closes. I would love to see it in person…..

This bookstore is relatively close, I must check it out!

Don’t forget Full Circle Bookstore in Oklahoma City.
Linda

For me my favourite Bookstore in the world is Oxford Bookstore Kolkata, India. It may not be the most beautiful but definitely the most memorable for me.

Two gone-but-not-forgotten beautiful bookstores: The Kennys Books premises in the center of Galway, Ireland, which managed to be cozy and expansive at the same time; and the 1967-ish Cody’s Books in Berkeley, CA, not very large, but a light-filled, welcoming glass-and-wood space.

This is indeed a lovely list–I shall endeavor to visit as many of these as I can. While it may not reach the heights photographed here, I’d also like to pass on an honorable mention to The Montague Bookmill, in Montague, MA (slogan “Books you don’t need in a place you can’t find”)–it’s a used bookstore and cafe in a mill from the 1840s, and an absolutely charming setting: http://www.montaguebookmill.com/photos.html. Much scruffier than most of these, but a phenomenal atmosphere.

If you’re interested in visiting the VVG Bookstore in Taipei, Taiwan, the address is:
Taipei City, Zhongxiao East Rd. Sec. 4, Lane 181, Alley 40, No. 13
台北市忠孝東路四段181巷40弄13號

The great thing about bookstores in Taiwan is that you are free to sit down and read as long as you want, something unheard of in the US unless you purchase the book first.

wow….

magnifico

standin tall.great

This is too lovely for words. Thank you very much!

My favorite bookstore is not beautiful but its HUGE – one full block and five stories high – Powells Books in Portland, Oregon. They have new and used books, making it more affordable for everyone.

So proud, 2 Portuguese fabulous bookstores in this fantastic list!

how I wish I can visit even just one of these bookstores…

Love this list. I always visit the local bookstores during my travels, so this list is very welcome. I have visited some of them. But I miss Blackwell Oxford in the list.

Missing librería municipal de Rio de Janeiro. Brazil

Sigh … you make me wish I never bought a Kindle. These bookstores are amazing, creative, and gorgeous. Now if only our public libraries would adapt that style … maybe someday?!

Wonderful insight thank you! I’m a completely loyal fan of real books – will NEVER own a kindle or the likes. I do sometimes wonder what will become of books, what with the technology that is available now to minimise space, maximise collections etc. My dread is that they will one day be gone forever, surplus to requirements. For me, reading is a pleasure best enjoyed with the weight of paper between my fingers, the smell of the pages and they’re binding, wafting as with each turning page, I delve into countless escapes and encyclopedias. Keep books alive!!!

Thank you for this inspiring post combining two of my passions: books and architecture. This is a real keeper!

BTW, I go to Bart’s Books in Ojai a few times a year (and have been going since the 80s). Yes, the books can get a bit damp, but the ambience and the huge selection of fiction make that inconvenient fact irrelevant. I can’t recommend the place highly enough!

If you’re ever in Columbus, Ohio go to The Book Loft of German Village. It is amazing.

Absolutely breathtaking! Why in the world can’t America have these type places? With the big chain stores putting all the little, private owners out of business, no wonder we don’t have majestic or unique places like these.

Nothing uglier than a strip mall Books-A-Million or too tiny Barnes and Nobles.

Absolutely beautiful !

You seem to have missed out Daunt’s on Marylebone Road! The architecture with its stained glass windows and skylight is a must for any traveller. Best ambience conducive for reading an browsing in Britain.

Beautiful places indeed, I particularly like the one where a stair between two shelves serve as a mean to access books as well as a casual sitting platform for reading. It reminds me of the steps outside of Sydney Town Hall :-)
However, most of these beautiful stores are beautiful because of their architecture and interior design, the books seem to be the same books that an average store sells. I think for book sellers to entice someone who, like myself, hasn’t bought a physical books in years to visit and buy something from a physical store, they need to emphasize two things: 1) sell books with unique physical qualities that can never be replicated on an iPad or Kindle, perhaps the smell and touch of the paper or a beautiful crafted front cover that makes a book collectable 2) The opportunity to interact, face-to-face with other book reader

Yes – A coffee table book is in order – maybe the top 50 – with comments from this site – edited and culled – added to the book. I would recommend the fabulous bookstore at Oxford University.

What a trip this would make? How could I afford it?

Waterstone’s incredible gothic building of a bookshop in Gower Street, London. Magical.

This is just love!

Wonderful article/list. Hooray for the printed book! I second Hatchards on Picadilly and Daunt Books on Maryleborne High Street, both in London.Both quite amazing interiors and a passion for books.

As long as there are wonderful and imaginative bookstores like this, there will be wonderful and imaginative bookbuyers and readers …PLEASE. e-book buyers eat your heart out!

Barter Books is my personal favourite. I’ve been known to drive 4 hours to get there

Some truly great examples.

beautiful bookstore! i was there last year! :) mabuhay!

surprised tokyo made the list, there are a lot of great book stores here but i havent found any that are particularly unique in design…unless you count Village Vangaurd which is more of a party shop then a book store. I work really close to that one though and I used to hang out there so Ill check it out :-D

I love how you can get lost in some bookstores. Hide in the stacks on paper and breathe deep the thoughts and ideas of the people who have been lucky enough to make it to print. Actual print, not e-publishing, cost efficient it may be, but curling up with my iPhone or nook will never feel the same.

Regardless what books they sell, these are all beautiful architectures. I am more interested in the designers and the age of the structures. Can you include this info ??

Brilliant and the companion volume is best library reading rooms. I had already decided by idea of heaven is the British Library Reading Room

Sunflower Books, Etc. in La Grande, Oregon, is a wonderful, charming, and very comfortable little bookstore. And that makes it beautiful.

Just re-blogged! What beautiful images – bookstores and libraries are hands-down my favorite places to visit.

happycoffeebean.blogspot.com

Munro’s in Victoria should be included for sure. I feel so lucky to live in a city with such a beautiful bookstore. At Christmas time they have muscians playing clasical music. I could spend hours and thousands in there. It is a place of beauty.

Just a comment. When Stacey’s in Bezerkly closed several years ago, a sign on their front door, now locked, said that sales had dropped to one third of what they had been BA (Before Amazon).

Sorry to say but you haven’t done your homework correctly ;-)
The best looking and most sexy bookstore in The Netherlands
is Mendo in Amsterdam. By far. It was designed by an multi award winning agency called Concrete. They make eyecandy. Period. Mendo is much better looking than American Book Center, which, to my opinion is a bit messy and has nothing to do with stylish design.

This wonderful. I want to leave now and start exploring.

Great photos of an eclectic mix of different architecture to display the books. The backdrops would not be as impressive without the actual books themselves though. They are the draw!

Hello fellow bookstore lovers! This is a wonderful posting. A world tour of great bookstores and libraries, there’s an item for the bucket list. btw My website includes a listing of all the books I read, year by year (haven’t gotten 2011 posted yet.) Thanks.

Be sure to add Full Circle Bookstore in Oklahoma City.

Assouline bookstores are stunning! check out their spaces in Paris and New York…

hh

Yes beautiful but what about Hatchards, Bookmen of Bowral, Maruzen in Tokyo and that second hand place in Henley?

I agree about Book Loft in Columbus, Ohio. In fact, before I read the caption, I thought the photo of Shakespeare & Co. was from there. A truly lovely old place.

Absolutely beautiful bookstores! I hope one day I can add a brick and mortar store to my current online presence.

How To Travel The World

An Entry from Africa : a bookshop with a lot of soul + arguably the best views in the world is Kalk Bay Books (in Cape Town) overlooking the majestic shores of the Atlantic. Once a sailors’ pub, the old stone building still oozes loads of character and charm.

Absolutely magnificent. Porto heritage to the world.

I have to mention Felix Jud in Hamburg, Germany.
It is the most beautiful bookstore I have ever visited.
Sadly, I could not find any fotos of the interior, but the front should be enough to convince you.
It is especially cosy when it is raining and stormy outside, which would be most of the time.
Definitely worth to stop by on your bookstore-trip-around-the-world

http://www.abendblatt.de/kultur-live/article1611296/Schoene-bibliophile-Architektur-in-Europa.html

and

http://www.boersenblatt.net/354286/

This is so cool! Must have been difficult choosing 20, though. You left out Liv. Cultura in São Paulo… and then there are libraries… you have to try that list!!

Great work guys. Cheers,

miguel

i want to live or even die in one of them!

I would second the above comment about adding Elliott Bay Book Company, in Seattle. It’s beautiful!!

Books rule and these bookstores have got it right!

Not sure if its still there, but Nicholas Hoare on Front St. in Toronto is lovely – especially on a cold winter’s day with the fireplace crackling.

I’m another fan of Munro’s in Victoria, BC Canada. It’s visually beautiful and a lovely place to spend an afternoon.

The Paris bookstore, Shakespeare & Company, has a not quite-as-glamorous-looking twin in East Lansing, MI (US): Curious Books. Floor-to-ceiling books, narrow walkways, comfychairs tucked into corners. Gorgeous, like a favorite fuzzy quilt.

Awesome article/directory! Now I want to go visit each and every one of them. Sigh… living vicariously through the blog once again!

My family would like to add a bookstore called 32 Books. It is on Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada. It is very small but we always find books we haven’t seen other places and buy them. The decor is wood – driftwood and shingles – very beautiful. There is a real draw for people who love books and the fullness of life.

http://realhornby.com/shopping/a32books/

I dream of a worldwide tour of all these magnificient libraries aboard a slow train, and the winning numbers of the next lottery. Meanwhile, I will contemplate these fabulous photographs. Thank you and do have a good day.

Two words: Daunt Books. I second all those who have already mentioned it, it’s the most beautiful bookshop I’ve come across.

I love bookstores and agree, very scared at the prospect of them all being shut due to the Amazon conglomerate fashion (especially with that Kindle phenomenon that I’m trying so hard not to like!). There are few warmer, fuzzier and more comforting feelings than losing yourself in amongst all the possible number of books that could potentially zap you into them – sitting down cross-legged on the carpeted floor, surrounded by books and hopefully the smell of coffee, reading many synopses.

Unfortunately though, these books are so expensive now (much like CD albums) and as much as I enjoy making a new Waterstones purchase, buying second-hand pretty much any book at a fractioned cost often wins. If bookstores (and music stores) want to stay in business, they need to reduce their prices :(

But beautiful, beautiful architecture!!

Two Jays Bookshop, Edgeware,London.

Depending on your own definition of beautiful, Two Jays book shop in Edgeware North West London is a magical place where you often leave with a smiling soul. A second hand bookshop and a beautifuly anarchic
one also.

You have forgotten “BÜCHERBOGEN” in Berlin!!! the most wonderful bookstore in the world :)

Try Three Lives in the West Village, New York City. Lovely and such well informed staff.

Just to say we are absolutely astonished that our bookshop (Barter Books) has been included in this exalted list – not that that has prevented my sending the link out to everyone I know, would send it to God, Himself, if I knew His address. Thank you whoever made it out; we are your humble servants forever.

Wonderful, beautiful bookstores! But, without any favour or partiality, Lello In Porto, Portugal is really the more magnificent and it trully pays a tribute to books and literature! I’m very proud!

My personal favs:
*La Lupa Libros in Montevideo, a small and well-stocked little bookshop on a charming pedestrian street in the old town (with a wistful mention also to La Licorne, another beautiful library which sadly closed down).
*Fedro Libros in San Telmo and El Enebro in San Isidro (both in Buenos Aires) — less spectacular than El Ateneo, but much cozier.

Desde http://www.viajesartevida.es hemos dedicado un pequeño articulo a la libreria Lello de Oporto, Portugal. Impresionante libreria llena de arte y cultura. No será el último articulo dedicado a librerias.
Esperamos y agradecemos vuestros comentarios.

You gave me some great reasons to visit Holland, Portugal and Buenos Aires! Thanks, thanks, thanks!

Dave Morris says “the best thing about Barter Books is not the ’rounded ceiling’ or the ‘decorative lighting’: It’s the fact that it’s AN OLD TRAIN STATION.” Given that it’s in England it’s not a TRAIN station but a RAILWAY STATION (although I suppose you could be writing from America).

I love Barnes and Nobles in Baltimore harbor (US). It’s in an old power plant so you can browse books in huge industrial chimneys too! It’s not very corporate compared to most chain store. Borders in Kingston Upon Thames (UK) was one of my favorite bookstore. It’s in an old building with intact wooden carved staircase. Too bad they closed it recently, I actually made an extra trip from London just to see it again, but I was too late :(

Beautiful, unusual and worth seeing! Thanks!

How about the 20 most attractive in the U. S. ( they are easier for me to get to) And then the 20 best used and scarce book store in the world and the states.

I am glad to see one of our bookstores in the post…. Livraria da Villa is definitively one of the best in São Paulo.

The best I have visited in the U.S. is The Tattered Cover in historic lower downtown Denver. You’ll never want to leave!

Djeez, those stores are beautiful. I want to visit all of them. That means: saving a lot of money. Maastricht is easier then china. Maybe something to ask for my birthday and saint Nicholas.

Wow! What beautiful places. All bookshops have some special quality but buying a book in any of these stores would be an event!

The pictures you have posted, it’s the most beautiful bookstore I have ever seen…wow!

All amazing, but the ones in Rome, Bratislava and Beijing leave me breathless. One could spend a lifetime in such inspiring places.

All very pretty, but mostly terribly huge. I prefer my small bookstore in Jerusalem, “Ludwig Mayer”, which may do little for the aesthetics, but has an absolute fantastic selection of books (cf also their website “mayerbooks”). It is always worth a visit (and they are playing classical music in the background)when you’re in Israel.

Another vote for the Academic Bookshop in Helsinki. One of my favorite places in the world.

Oh, what a delightful post – warms the heart of this bibliophile! I love to discover new book stores and seek them out whenever I’m in a new city. Two of my favourites are Munro’s books in Victoria, BC, http://munrobooks.com/
and a small, but oh so special book store in New Orleans, Faulkner House Books http://www.faulknerhouse.net/

All very grand indeed. I prefer the personal and cosy wee bookshops. Check out Little Acorns at the Bedlam Market in Derry (First UK City of Culture).

Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks in Vancouver, Canada is a specialty shop featuring a stunning and beautiful collection of books on all aspects of eating, drinking, growing, preserving, food politics, well – you get the idea. Bookshops are villages, that nurture the community, long may they last.

Anyone mentioned Leakey’s Second-hand Bookshop in Scotland, Inverness, it has got a log fire and is very cosy and plenty of books!

Most of them are far too grandiose for my tastes. It’s books I’m interested in – not decor.

my favorite…. reminds me an old Seattle bookshop “Beauty and the Books”

Lovely list…. but you forgot Type Books in Toronto who brought the world the video “The joy of Books”

If I had the money I would travel and visit every one of those libraries and spend hours reading!

Carturesti Bookstores in Romania are among the finest in Europe and the whole world. Most of them include tea rooms or coffee shops, reading areas, playgrounds. The most famous, located in Bucharest, Arthur Verona street no 13-15, even has a terrace where they serve food and drinks. Although they have the same owners, the design is different for each shop, and is quite hard to pick just one. You can check out some pictures on the website http://librarie.carturesti.ro/despre-noi/cum-ne-gasesti-705/

I would like to add Caravan Books on Grand Ave Los Angeles.

Thank you for the wonderful journey and for being inspired to make it possible. I will return there again and again. Cecile

Lovely, all of them. But I’m partial to my local bookstore, Birchbark Books, owned and operated by author Louise Erdrich. It boasts a confessional, a tiny children’s reading loft, and hand-written recommendations from Louise placed on the tables and book shelves. http://birchbarkbooks.com/Home

Great post … please include Shakespeare Bookshop, Avignon; The Winding Stair, Dublin and Books for Cooks London

I’m partial to my local independent bookstore here in Wichita, Kansas. Intimate, small, friendly staff and attached coffee shop and cafe. Check out their website at http://www.watermarkbooks.com/

It turns out, books inspire.

By the way, Maastricht is not part of Holland.

A 10 million people country. Two out of 20 in the list. No doubt top position per capita. Portugal is certainly a place of book lovers.

Bookstores are fine, and some are attractive (not all of these are, in my opinion), but I love e-books and my Kindle, too. It makes me feel good to be saving all that paper, and the books tend to be WAY cheaper. Some older books are even free as e-books. My husband (David Dvorkin) and I price all of our own e-books no higher than $2.99 each.

It is strange to see bookshops featured as if they are a dying breed. Beautiful but doomed. Well, perhaps we are! – We are Aardvark Books in Herefordshire, UK – we probably don’t qualify for beauty or architecture – we are in a converted granary – but we aren’t doomed! “You don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone”, as the song goes – and beware, people, of the destruction of value in e-books – it happened in music, and film, and games – now watch it happen to books.

One of my favourite UK bookshops is Much Ado in the tiny (and very picturesque) village of Alfriston, East Sussex. In an old converted barn it has SH books under a covered archway and in the main building there are seats for curling up , and little corners for browsing the eclectic stock. It’s warm, friendly and the knowledgeable and opinionated owners always have time to chat. Go there!

Bookstores n libraries are one of my favorite places to visit when in a new place.

A fave one of mine : Massolit books, krakow, Poland

Strong agreement with Valerie above – Much Ado in Alfriston, East Sussex was named “Independent Bookshop of the Year” in 2007, just three years after opening and offers a brilliant service as well as a massively varied choice of books.

“Much Ado specializes in books by and about the Bloomsbury Group of artists and authors, which included Virginia Woolf, Duncan Grant and Maynard Keynes among its members; Charleston, the group’s East Sussex home, is just a few miles away.”

The outside of the building is very inviting but cannot compare with the welcome and comfort inside – you just won’t want to leave!

Wow, these shops are extraordinary! Thanks for the list.
FYI: you say Maastricht is in Holland and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. To cut a story short: better to mention the Netherlands in both cases. Thanks!

Selexyz Maastricht is lovely, however I also love my bookstore, Selexyz Donner, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, that I visit weekly: 6000 sq m, built in 1950 around a central atrium with many books, but also a cafe, two record stores (modern and classical) and a small theatre, hosting many literary events. The photos on their site do not do the building justice http://www.selexyz.nl/winkel/40/selexyz-donner/

I’m in agreement with Maarten: referring to to the Netherlands as Holland is like saying ‘England’ while meaning Scotland. The fact that this website shows two bookshops in cities that are in the same country (Maastricht and Amsterdam), yet the country is referred to as both ‘Holland’ and ‘The Netherlands’, looks rather sloppy. :(

Webster’s defines Holland as being either the provinces or the entire country of the Netherlands. So while Holland may have a more narrow definition in other languages, in English it can mean the entire country.

“Webster’s defines Holland as being either the provinces or the entire country of the Netherlands. So while Holland may have a more narrow definition in other languages, in English it can mean the entire country.”

- That’s A-OK with me, but if one múst insist on using ‘Holland’, then let it count for both the entries in this list. Both Amsterdam and Maastricht are in the Netherlands or ‘Holland’. If there was one bookshop in Manchester listed as being in ‘England’ and another bookshop in Glasgow as being in ‘Great Britain’, then I guess it would hit a nerve in Britain, innit?

Nevertheless, it just looks sloppy. Hard to disagree on that one, I reckon.

Fantastic bookstore! The only problem is that they propably have to close because of the fact that most people buy there books online! That is the truth, I life about 3 minuts of this amazing building!

I work for Selexyz in Rotterdam. I’m proud to see that one of our stores is in the top 20. All our stores have a special design or historic worth. Thank you!

OMG! at how lovely these book stores are, I so wish I had one near me…

Great Post thanks a lot.

Steve Hicup
Web Design Bournemouth

Bart’s Books is a readers heaven! The most unique bookstore experience ever.

This is brilliant! I’m totally captivated by book so this article was awesome. I couldn’t choose a favourite. I was stuck between Paris and the Nederlands.

Good idea to make a list of the most beautiful bookstores! The’re worth it. How did you collect them, and the pictures?

Just a reminder. Being in the south Maastricht is not in Holland (West of the country) but in the Netherlands.
Holland refers to the western part of the Netherlands, not the whole country.

Gosh, Australia has never felt so far away…If only I’d known about these places when I lived in Europe! Thanks for such a beautiful blog post! If I come across any special book stores Down Under I’ll be sure to let you know.

I’ve shared with this friends and placed a link from my own blog to this blog post.
Thanks again!

Online shopping is going to kill all this beautiful places? I’ve seen just a couple of them!

All beautiful bookshops, a credit to the trade and a great joy to all bookbuyers. So please continue making a bookshop the place to visit! But hard to finance when your bookshop is in a small town or village.
So I recommend to also look at those shops, for instance at ours: http://www.boekhandelvandeven.nl/ in Soest, Netherlands ;-)

I know this Belgian bookshop, Cook & Book. Honestly speaking, it doesn’t deserve to be on the top 20 list. It’s a charming shop with nice decoration concept. I personally like visiting there, I buy books there, but you can’t simply call it BEAUTIFUL. They can have other descriptions, like charming or pop, dynamic or inspiring etc, but not so much of beauty. I think the person who made this list has never visited this shop. And who is this Emily? How come she has the right to choose top 20 beautiful bookshops? It’s strange that people see this as something authorized. Why don’t you put Emily’s before 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores in the World. Then that makes better sense. Sorry if I sounded too harsh. It’s not a big deal.

my fav bookstore is called Broadbents in market street southport england – it is like walking into a scene from Harry potter and has its own coal fire place and the most wonderful comfy chairs..many a day spent browsing the best selection of antiquarian books in England and long may they all reign ..life without book stores and libraries would be unimaginable :@

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