10 Inspiring Bookshops around the World

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. – Henry David Thoreau Just some shops that sell books that I think are worth crossing oceans for… 1. Libreria Alta Acqua, Venice, Italy A little sign outside says,…

Stop Everything, it’s a Historic Bookshop For Sale with Everything Inside it

Every once in a while, the Internet gods deliver us a property listing that hits every MessyNessy sweet spot. Quaint antique architecture? Check. Unexpected links to remarkable figures and inventions throughout history? Double check. Make it a library, and you’ve dreamt up our perfect spot, aka Clough’s Bookshop in Cherry Valley, New York. The 178-year-old…

10 Enchanting NYC Bookstores to Support During These Surreal Times

Books aren’t fair weather friends. No matter what, we can always rely on the words of the authors we love to taste life twice (so says Anaïs Nin, who sure lived a spicy life). Now, more than ever, it’s our turn to help support the guardians of these words: our cities’ independent booksellers. We’re talking…

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Three NYC Bookshops That Will Steal Your Heart

New York City has no shortage of vast bookstores where you can easily spend an hour peacefully browsing the endless shelves and genres, but what I’m looking for is a bookshop that makes my heart ache a little; one that makes me want to swap lives with the bookseller and live inside their world. So…

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To the Bookmobile! The Library on Wheels of Yesteryear

Long before Amazon was bringing books to your doorstep, there was the Bookmobile! A travelling library often used to provide books to villages and city suburbs that had no library buildings, the bookmobile went from a simple horse-drawn cart in the 19th century to large customised vehicles that became part of American culture and reached…

The Little Bookshop that Takes in Homeless Cats

Cats and books. They just go hand in hand, don’t they? Like jam and toast. And at a small bookstore in Hong Kong, they only know it too well. The SAM KEE Book Company has become known as an unofficial sanctuary for stray cats after its owners began offering their cozy bookshelves and reading nooks as a home…

The Little Latino Brownstone Bookstore

Tucked under the stairs of a brownstone in Spanish Harlem, also known as El Barrio, is a place where locals and Frida Kahlo disciples alike can feel right at home. La Casa Azul Bookstore is the only independent literature hub of this vibrant Latin American neighbourhood, the first in New York with an emphasis on Latino…