The Secret Speakeasy Manhattan Bookshop

Scroll down to find an update on this story. Michael Seidenberg once ran a non-secret bookstore in Brooklyn. When he couldn’t afford to pay rent anymore, he moved Brazenhead Books into his three-room apartment on the second floor in upper East Manhattan. It’s been going for eight years. Images by Jenna Scherer As you can…

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 Miniature Library of Forgotten Curiosities

If you can’t have your own velvet-curtained library complete with dusty volumes, mysterious documents and antique treasures, how about a miniature one? On my internet travels today, I stumbled upon the Etsy boutique of L. Delaney, artist and maker of tiny things. The pièce de résistance is this incredible one of a kind 1 inch…

Just some 300 year-old Giant Books

No need for your reading glasses on this one, but perhaps some knowledge of 18th century Spanish might be useful. This is one of a collection of twelve giant books made in 1715 by a priest in New Spain (as in Spanish colonial Mexico), currently being preserved by the library of the National Autonomous University of…

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…

The Travelling Library of Sketchbooks

“It’s like a food truck where you get sketch books instead of Tacos”. So here’s one of those projects that makes you wonder, how does something like this manage to exist? The Sketchbook Project is an innovative art project that pretty much allows anyone to participate in art and have their work seen by people all…

Someone Illustrated Kerouac’s On the Road, Page by Page

When I found these illustrations by Californian artist Paul Rogers, it made me want to read Jack Kerouac’s On the Road all over again, accompanied by these fabulous little pictures of course. Rogers is not a stranger to the great writers of the 20th century, he’s also done ten covers for Random House UK of Hemingway…

The Chained Books of Zutphen

A spot of ‘book p0rn’ for you on this fine Friday, which takes us to the 16th-century chained library of Zutphen, in the east of the Netherlands. Photos by Eric Wakkel No need for a library card here, the Zutphen hasn’t updated its system for more than 550 years! Each book is fitted with a metal…

The Last Bookshop

This short film imagines life in the future without independent shops and tells the story of a young schoolboy who stumbles upon the last remaining bookshop. Directors Richard Dadd and Dan Fryer are the duo behind the creative studio, The Bakery: We love bookshops. But we saw that many are going through tough times. We wanted to…

The Secret Magic Library of Manhattan

Nestled in a hidden location in midtown Manhattan, the Counjuring Arts Research Center is ground zero for illusionists and historians alike. Bill Kalush, the center’s founder and director, explains how he built the collection piece-by-piece and shows us some of its highlights…. [vimeo http://vimeo.com/24630376] Film by Cool Hunting, subscribe here. ::: YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: . …