book town | Cafe Book Bean

Here is the second part to an already awesome list of Book Towns. I hope you enjoy these ones as much as
Book Towns: Part I

Here are 6 more stunning little Book Towns:

St. Martins, New Brunswick
A beautiful Canadian village 40 km east of Saint John, it is situated on the Bay of Fundy. The village was founded by a Loyalists in 1783, and was originally known as Quaco. St. Martins has a population of approx. 304 (2006.) In 2007, the St. Martins Book town Initiative was formed.
Soon after that the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly officially proclaimed St. Martins as New Brunswick’s official Book town. There are now nearly a dozen booksellers located in the village.

Wigtown, Scotland
Wigtown was officially designated as Scotland’s National Book Town in 1998 and is now home to over 20 book-related businesses.

A book lovers haven; it has over a
quarter of a million books to choose from, old and new. It would be impossible to escape this town empty handed. Every year Wigtown book Festival offers more than 180 events for adults, children and young people; including literature, music, film, theatre, arts and crafts. The festival takes place for 10 days each autumn.

Fjærland, Norway
Fjærland has 300 inhabitants, and is part of Sogndal municipality. The centre in Fjærland is Mundal, about 3 km from the main road, down the fjord. Most people in Fjærland are engaged in farming and tourism.

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A simple and beautiful book town; with book shops situated in old cow sheds and pigpens, there are also book shops on the ferry quay, and
in the Hotel Mundal. An absolutely picturesque little village!

Clunes, Victoria (Australia)
The charming Goldfields village of Clunes is famous for its bookshops, set amidst a heritage rich landscape. From the collectibles to the bargains, from small shops to large shops stocking thousands of titles. Clunes is located 36 km north of Ballarat.
It is a member of the International Organisations of Book Towns.
This year Clunes celebrates it’s 10 year book town anniversary.
The idea of transforming Clunes into a European-style book town was first conceived and developed by Councillor Tim Hayes, Linda Newitt, Graeme Johnston, and Tess Brady. Clunes held its first ‘Booktown for a Day’ event on 20 May 2007.
Over 50 booksellers from around Australia set up shop for the day in the town’s heritage buildings.
Clunes has a population of 1656 (2011) and more than 60 booksellers. With millions of books and 15,000 visitors, it has impressively become the largest collection of books in any regional centre of Australia.

Sedbergh, Cumbria (England)
A lovely town laced with old world atmosphere. There are only about eight bookshops in Sedbergh, but one of these books shops is enormous. Westwood Books, is a family business that moved to Sedbergh from Hay‑on‑Wye in 2005. As a former cinema it holds about 70,000 titles.
The other smaller shops sell books in the town itself and at Farfield Mill Heritage Centre, a mile and a half away. Among these are some small‑scale specialists: Avril’s Books at Farfield Mill (craft, textiles and applied arts), Sleepy Elephant (vintage children’s books, local interest and guides), Sedbergh Information and Book Centre (18 different dealers represented, with specialisms including fine art, transport and sport).

Bredevoort, Netherlands
A small medieval town in the Netherlands with a population of approx. 1600. The town was designated a book town in 1993 because of its more than 20 secondhand and antiquarian bookshops.
Every third Saturday of the month, the town square hosts a book market, attracting book dealers from all over the country to sell English, German, and Dutch books. Bredevoort is one of the founding members of the International Organisation of Book Towns, and hosts many literary events to support the local book economy.

These are just some of the most popular and well known book towns, but there are many more. My heart is so warmed by these little treasures. I hope you enjoyed learning about them as much as I did.

Which one/s are your favorite?

A Book Town is a trend that began in the 1960’s and refers to a town or village with a large number of used book or antiquarian book stores.
Along with their unique and plentiful bookstores they also host wonderful literary festivals

These book festivals attract book lovers and bibliophiles from all over the world. A number of towns are also members of the International Organisation of Book Towns.

Check out these first 6 awesome, yet quaint little book towns:

Montolieu, France
Sometimes referred to as the “Village of Books.” Montolieu was the town that first introduced me to the concept of “Book Towns.” With a population of roughly only 747 people Montolieu contains fifteen bookshops, mostly specializing in second-hand and
antiquarian books.
Every year the town offers many workshops such as: Used and antiquarian bookshops, Working craftspeople of books and art, The Arts and Crafts of the Book Museum, Bibliophilia stocks, Educational activities around the Book and its craft, and many more. These workshops attract approx. . 52 000 visitors each year.

Hay-on-Wye, Wales
The concept of book towns first came into being in the 1960s, when the fortunes of Hay-on-Wye, a small market town on the Welsh/English border, were transformed by the power of books. The opportunity to regenerate struggling villages and towns by opening up secondhand bookstores and welcoming literary events has since been embraced by many other locations around the world. The town of just under 2,000 also hosts an “honesty bookshop,” where you make your selection against a backdrop of some old ruins and leave your money in a box.

Jinbōchō, Tokyo
Known as Tokyo’s center of used-book stores and publishing houses, and as a popular antique and curio shopping area. In 1913, a large fire destroyed most of the area. In the wake of the fire, a university professor named Shigeo Iwanami opened a bookstore in Jinbōchō which eventually grew into today’s Iwanami Shoten publishing house. Over time, the area became popular with university students and intellectuals, and many small bookstores and cafes opened there.

Hobart, New York
Hobart is a historical village in Delaware County, New York, United States. This beautiful agricultural community has a population of approx. 441 (at the 2010 census.) The village has 5 bookstores, as well as 20 other book sellers within a 20 mile radius. In 1999 the town was a ghost town but by 2005 Don Dales (a local entrepreneur) and musician saved the town by establishing the first book town east of the Mississippi.
For a detailed story about this town’s amazing
journey check out the article in this link:

Urueña, Spain
In the medieval town of Urueña, in Valladolid, you will find the first “Villa del Libro” in Spain. In the streets of this town you will find 12 bookshops selling old or out of print books, or wher e interesting activities take place: El Rincón Escrito, Alejandría Bookshop, “Wine Museum” Cellar Bookshop (specialising in science and fiction literature about wine), Alcuino Caligrafía (organises
courses on calligraphy of other cultures, for all levels), El 7 Bookshop (specialising in the world of bullfighting), Samuel Bookshop, Alvacal, Boutique del Cuento, Almadí Bookshop, La Punta del Iceberg, Alcaraván Bookshop and the Artisan Book Binding Workshop of Urueña.
CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=167995

Redu, Belgium
In the beautiful Ardennes region of Belgium, Redu is a lovely little village with a population of 500. Local villager Noel Anselot returned from a trip to Hay-on-Wye In 1979, and was so inspired that he decided to regenerate his own tiny village by attracting booksellers. He wrote to many book-dealers across the region, inviting them to set up shop in some of the original village buildings (such as barns, houses, and sheds) to keep the look of the village intact. The project was a success. Now 17 bookshops specializing in secondhand books and comics are based in the village. Redu holds a number of book-related exhibitions and events every year, including a book night when the bookshops stay open all night long. The town was officially declared a book town in 1984 after holding its first book festival.

I cannot get over how beautiful these towns are.
It would be a dream to visit any one of them. However, I think I need to save up so I can plan an around the book world in 80 days trip!

Have you been to any of these book towns? Which would you love to visit?

Stay tuned for Part II tomorrow evening! Now Available: Pt: II