The Best Books on Bookstores
So you can’t get enough of bookstores (like me) and want to learn more about bookshops and their culture, or you want more insight on where to travel to, or you just want to browse through beautiful illustrations of the most beautiful bookshops in the world, but you don’t know where to start or what page to turn to (Hint: you’re already here!)
I’ve narrowed down my favorite bookstore books, whether they are diaries or illustrated catalogs of the greatest bookstores around the world. And if you happen to be looking for books on reading/writing instead of bookstores then check out my list of “Best Books on Books” here!
Here are my TOP FOUR books on bookstores:
Bookshops: A Reader’s History by Jorge Carrión
Spanish author and professor, Jorge Carrión, believes that bookshops are “a condensed version of the world.” And his book “Bookshops” is itself a condensed version of the world of bookstores. He guides the reader through the life of bookstores from New York to Lisbon, providing a historical and cultural perspective that is scattered with excerpts from the great writers who constitute the bookshop’s shelves.
2. Footnotes from the World’s Greatest Bookstores by Bob Eckstein
This illustrated catalogue of “The World’s Greatest Bookstores” is a bibliophile’s treat. The whimsical portraits of each store capture both your imagination and desire to step on a plane. Each illustration also entails a snip bit about the bookstore, whether it has hosted famous author readings or TV documentaries filmed there. From the opening page to the closing, there is nothing but pure adoration and respect for bookstores and their owners. Eckstein writes in the introduction:
“Bookstores are emotional places both for their patrons and their employees. They are built on the sweat and tears of hardworking people, each bookshelf lined with the lifework of hundreds of artists. Each of those books represents endless hours of grind and toil. Often the bookstore owner and employees are also writers. Is there a space with more fulfilled or unfulfilled dreams?”
3. The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
If you learn anything from The Diary of a Bookseller, it is that running a bookstore is a difficult, often grueling business. As the owner of the the largest second hand bookshop in Scotland, in a small town called Wigtown, Sean Bythell reveals the reality behind selling books to people like you and me. For anyone who hasn’t worked at a bookstore, Sean’s humorous portrayal of his customers can almost seem too absurd to be true. But all the crazy and inspired people who walk through the door are the life of the bookstore, and you learn to love it as much as Sean does (you also get just as annoyed.) Compared to the other bookstore books listed here, this diary is a less romanticized portrait of the life of bookstores, yet it is as equally important, shedding light on many of the unspoken issues of bookstore culture like showrooming and the detrimental impact of Amazon. One of my favorite anecdotes is about a kindle he shot with a shotgun, and I hope to visit his bookstore one day to see it framed on the wall.
4. BookTowns: Forty Five Paradises of the Printed World by Alex Johnson
In another wonderfully illustrated book, Johnson focuses on book-towns rather as well as individual bookstores. The history and literary character of each town transports the reader to another world, one where books were (and still are in many cases) the center of cultural life. It is a book filled with magical places you’ll immediately want to add to your next travel itinerary.
