Inside the Mystery of an Untranslatable 600 Year Old Book

It’s like Medieval Times, with a kiss of psychedelia. A book in which strange globules float freely, alien plants shimmy across the pages, and female figures slide into a pool of green plasma. Binding them all together? A beautiful, albeit entirely indecipherable script by an unknown author. The “Voynich Manuscript,” is an ancient codex that…

A Book Lover’s Guide to the Literary Bars of New York

For those who like their evening tipple with a literary twist, Manhattan is resplendent with bars where famous writers once visited. Whether to seek inspiration over a Sazerac, or escape over a Gin Fizz, some of these bars have become synonymous with some of the great writers of the 20th century, whilst others remain unnoticed.…

From Frida to Shakespeare, the Amazing Things They Did whilst “Social Distancing”

In around 1603, a poet had a decision to make. With a plague underway in England, he could choose to answer to fear, or answer to the muse. Luckily for us, the writer – one Mr. William Shakespeare – decided to put pen to paper (quill to parchment?) and turn out one of his greatest…

Stop Everything, it’s a Historic Bookshop For Sale with Everything Inside it

Every once in a while, the Internet gods deliver us a property listing that hits every MessyNessy sweet spot. Quaint antique architecture? Check. Unexpected links to remarkable figures and inventions throughout history? Double check. Make it a library, and you’ve dreamt up our perfect spot, aka Clough’s Bookshop in Cherry Valley, New York. The 178-year-old…

Float Away with a Forgotten Futurist’s Vision of Paris

Paris was destined to be a city enjoyed from great heights; the Arc de Triomphe a mere pedestal for a mini city in the sky and the gothic bell towers of Notre Dame a convenient launching pad for fish-like dirigibles to whizz around town in. That is, according to fantastical world of Albert Robida, a…

10 Enchanting NYC Bookstores to Support During These Surreal Times

Books aren’t fair weather friends. No matter what, we can always rely on the words of the authors we love to taste life twice (so says Anaïs Nin, who sure lived a spicy life). Now, more than ever, it’s our turn to help support the guardians of these words: our cities’ independent booksellers. We’re talking…

Famous Authors Are Writing Books for a Time Capsule Library None of Us Will Ever See

In the frosty forest of Nordmarka, Norway, the seeds have been quietly planted to save the future of the written word. Every year for the next 100 years, 100 famous authors have pledged to each write a novel that will remain unpublished until the 22nd Century, when they will be published as part of the…

The Last Great Beatnik Café

Behind every generation of revolutionary writers, there’s usually a time-worn café. Hemingway had Paris’s La Closerie Des Lilas; Simone de Beauvoir, the Café de Flore. For San Francisco, the cradle of the Beatnik movement – or at least, its caffeine source – was the Caffe Trieste. High on a hilltop in Little Italy, Caffe Trieste was…

For Sale: The Brontë Sisters Café makes for a very Tempting Life Swap

I can picture myself now, leaned over the counter, reading my dog-eared copy of Wuthering Heights for the umpteenth time, waiting for one of my pies (voted best in the village) to finish baking to perfection in the oven. My only worries are whether I’ll have enough cakes ready for our Saturday morning book club or remembering to buy firewood…

Edgar Allan Poe’s Cottage Is Just Sitting There in the Bronx

Finding it there seems improbable. Absurd, even. Yet, on a sunny day in Sector G of the Bronx, amidst cheap Thai massage parlours and “99¢ Only” stores, stands the final home of the king of American macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. That the house stands after 221 years is a miracle alone. It’s been a quiet…