Going to a bookstore can be a wonderful outing and can appeal to people of all ages. I love to smell the freshly printed pages as I browse each aisle in search of the perfect book. I didn’t think I could ever love a place more than the library, but my local book shop really brings me great joy.
Then I heard about this place in Wales. If you’re a bibliophile, you have to visit!
The Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye is a small market town and community. It has the largest private collection of books in the world.
share
Called the “Town of Books,” the town is home to over 40 independent bookstores lining the village on the English border.
share
share
It all started in 1961, when Richard Booth opened his first second-hand bookshop in an old fire station.
share
After hearing that American libraries were shutting down, Booth traveled across the pond and bought as many books as he could to ship home.
share
share
His collection of used books for sale became massive, and other booksellers soon followed suit.
share
The result was a town that became obsessed with books.
share
By the 1970s, Hay was internationally known as the “Town of Books.”
share
share
Today, the town receives an estimated 500,000 tourists a year.
share
Described by President Clinton as the “Woodstock of the mind,” Hay-on-Wye also hosts the “Hay Festival of Literature & Arts,” bringing even more bibliophiles to town.
share
share
share
This place is a book lover’s heaven!
share
(via Amusing Planet)
This beats pretty much any bookstore I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been to a lot. I really want to go here and bring back an entire shelf worth of books.
