This tiny bookstore store on Paris’s Left Bank has hosted some of literature’s most revered figures. Shakespeare and Company can feel like something of a literary utopia, where generations of writers have found a Parisian home.
The largest library in the world, is the Library of Congress. Established to serve the needs of Congress, it now includes the world’s largest collection of legal materials, and spans 36.8 million books in 470 languages (almost half the holdings are in languages other than English).
The Asian collection is particularly strong, with 2.8 million books and manuscripts in Chinese, Japanese and Korean—the largest holding of Asian works outside Asia. There’s also an extensive collection of rare books, including the oldest printed book in America, The Bay Psalm Book (1640), a psalter printed just 20 years after the Pilgrims first arrived in Plymouth.
The library is an amazing resource for anyone interested in the history of America—the Manuscript Division preserves the papers of 23 presidents, while the Map Division allows researchers to explore the growth of urban America through its vast collection of fire-insurance maps. Another treasure is the Martin Waldseemüller 1507 world map, the first document in the world to use the word “America.”
The British Library in St. Pancras, London, is one of the world’s foremost research libraries, containing over 150 million items in most languages of the world. Originally part of the British Museum, the library became a separate entity in 1973 when it moved to its current site—the largest public building constructed in Britain in the 20th century.
Alongside books and manuscripts, the library has an extensive collection of audio recordings, maps, stamps, patents, prints, periodicals and sheet music. It also hosts a number of exhibitions.
The new library of Alexandria aims to “recapture the spirit of openness and scholarship” of the world-renowned ancient library of Alexandria, destroyed by fire in antiquity. The new Bibliotheca Alexandrina was completed in 2002 and stands close to the site of the old library, between the University of Alexandria and the seafront. The beautiful building was designed to resemble a rising sun, and fortunately, is fire-proof this time.
The epic scale of the new library includes room for eight million books (although that capacity has yet to be filled) and the largest reading room in the world, as well as four museums, a conference center, a planetarium and fifteen permanent exhibitions—including the “Impressions of Alexandria” exhibition, which contains drawings, maps and accounts of 15th to 19th century travelers’ first impressions of the great city.
The library contains collections in Arabic, French and English. One of the highlights is the Nobel collection, which houses the books of all the Nobel Laureates in Literature since 1901. There is also a dedicated children’s library with thousands of picture books, a computer lab and a story-telling corner.
Daunt Books is an original Edwardian bookshop with three floors, long oak galleries and elegant skylights. The perfect setting for the wonderful collection of books on offer in Marylebone High Street, London.
Books Are Magic is home to exciting new releases and beloved classics; hidey-holes for children, gumballs filled with poetry, readings and panels almost every night of the week and storytimes on the weekends, and yes, plenty of magic.
The New York Public Library is a vast network of local libraries all over New York, but the go-to jewel in the crown is the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. The collection’s strength lies in its breadth, encompassing books, periodicals, maps, archives, oral histories and a growing digital collection.
Within its depths, readers can find a copy of the Declaration of Independence signed by Thomas Jefferson, the archives of Maya Angelou, two original first folio copies of William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories and Tragedies from 1623 and an extensive collection of historical Staten Island postcards.
Founded in 1648, the Royal Library of Copenhagen is the largest of the Nordic libraries. One of the most popular reasons to visit is to marvel at the stunning architecture of the Black Diamond, an impressive new wing added in 1999. Designed by Danish architects Schmidt, Hammer and Lassen, the Black Diamond is an imposing glass-and-black-marble construction intended to reflect the Copenhagen waterfront on which it stands. As the Danish legal deposit library, the building contains at least one copy of every Danish book published, including the earliest Nordic book—the Dalby Book, an evangelical Christian tract printed in 1086. Other gems to explore include a large collection of ancient Icelandic books and pamphlets.
A permanent public exhibition, “Treasures in the Royal Library,” displays a Gutenberg Bible, Hans Christian Andersen’s diaries and the archives of the father of existentialism, Søren Kierkegaard.
A literary treasure trove in downtown LA, The Last Bookstore is a second hand bookstore encouraging the selling and trading of books and records; browsers are greeted by hanging books, suspended in flight as they erupt from a bookcase.
The library of Sainte-Geneviève was named after, and holds the collection of, one of the oldest and largest abbeys in Paris. As a result, it has extensive theological holdings, including sermons, canon law, bibles and works by the Venerable Bede. The abbey itself was destroyed in 1807 when it was demolished to make way for Rue Clovis, but the collection was preserved, awaiting a new library.
Completed in 1851, the impressive new building in the Place Panthéon was designed by Henri Labrouste as a monument to knowledge . It is characterized by the use of iron as an integral part of the design, at the time a daring innovation and a facet later copied by Charles Follen McKim when designing the Boston Public Library.
Strengths of the collection include philosophy, medicine, science, law and a considerable collection of Nordic works. Highlights include two beautifully-illustrated 15th century copies of Saint Augustine's City of God, Marie Curie’s 1921 book Radiology and War, and engravings by the celebrated 17th century artist Jean Saint-Igny.
The National Art Library is part of London’s famous Victoria & Albert Museum, and is one of the world’s most extensive reference libraries of fine and decorative art. The library also specializes in the art and craft of the book.
Due to its location within a world-class museum, the general collection covers a wider range of objects than a traditional library—alongside the usual books, periodicals and manuscripts, users can find sculpture, photographs, prints, museum and exhibition catalogues, book bindings, artists’ notebooks, textiles and
Items in the special collection include the Codex Forster (a collection of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks), Beatrix Potter’s archive, hand-illustrated books by Matisse and printed catalogues from the famous London department store Liberty & Co.
State Library Victoria is the central library of the state of Victoria, located in Melbourne. It was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the world. The Library's vast collection includes over two million books and 350,000 photographs, manuscripts, maps and newspapers, with a special focus on material from Victoria, including the diaries of the city's founders, John Batman, and the folios of Captain James Cook. It also houses some of the original armour of Ned Kelly.
An unusual collection housed by State Library Victoria is the WG Alma Conjuring Collection. It contains over 5,000 items, including books, memorabilia, research files, articles and photographs, relating to magic and magicians.
