Book Mania!

Barter Books, Alnwick. Back in April 1991, and in the face of a rather large overdraft, Mary Manley decided to open a secondhand bookshop - one that would be based on the swap system and called Barter Books. Her husband, Stuart, immediately took to the idea and suggested that Mary open the shop in the front room of what was then his small manufacturing plant, located in Alnwick’s magnificent old Victorian railway station. From that time a joint partnership was formed that would eventually result in what the New Statesman magazine would call ‘The British Library of secondhand bookshops’. It was where the original ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ WWII poster was rediscovered. (Photo by Dave Morris)

Bath Old Books, Bath. A bookshop located at 9c Margarets Buildings in the Avon town of Bath that offers a good range of second-hand stock on two floors. Bath Old Books particularly caters for readers interested in art books, illustrated books, children’s books, literature, topography and travel. (Photo by Mcalister.C)

Strand Books, New York. In 1927, Ben Bass opened Strand Book Store on Fourth Avenue, home of New York’s legendary Book Row. Named after the famous publishing street in London, the Strand was one of 48 bookstores on Book Row, which started in the 1890’s and ran from Union Square to Astor Place.

The Paperback Bookshop is an independent general bookshop that was established in the early 1960s at the top of Bourke street and was then one of the few Melbourne bookshops to sell a good selection of Australian and imported books, particularly paperback editions of books not commonly available in Melbourne. (by Diego DeNicola)

Ross Old Book Shop, Wye, Herefordshire. Ross Old Book & Print Shop is a traditional second-hand and antiquarian bookshop.

There are around 20,000 different titles on display, ranging from recent publications to 300-year-old rarities. New items are added every single day. You will find a good selection of past and present books on the Wye Valley, Forest of Dean and Wales.  (photo courtesy of Hymer Club)

Galeries Bortier, Brussels, Belgium (via antes88)

Christmas in Shakespeare and Co., Paris (Photo by cupofcoffee)

Leakey’s Second Hand Bookshop, Inverness, Scotland. Leakey’s is Scotland’s largest second-hand bookstore. Opened in 1972 and formerly home to St Mary’s Gaelic Church (built 1792), the historic premises are a perfect environment to browse through rows of tall wooden shelves stuffed with books on every subject imaginable. (Photo by Juls Chong)

Libreria Acqua Alta in Venice, Italy. The bookshop, being one of the most original in the world, is a lovely place to rummage used publications in various languages. The so-called “High Water Bookstore” sits in Calle Longa Santa Maria Formosa (Corte Senza Nome) in Venice. (Photo by Ennio Maretto)

La Infinito, café-libros-arte, Madrid. La Infinito is a bookshop café serving ‘long moments and nice chats’, afternoon readings, and wifi sessions, without making its customers worry that the waiter would remove the glasses from the table by the time they finish eating. Open from dawn to midnight, La Infinito serves breakfast with their completely original menu, in which all options are named after artists (e.g. name of juices are poets, musicians are shakes). La Infinito is also a space open to all kinds of cultural events. There are two shelves loaded with books and essays about poetry and theater, copies of literary works which are available for selling and sharing, and a small stage available to artists who want to present interesting projects like poetry readings. There’s surely not a place for literature like La Infinito. (Photo by James Madden)