You might not have a bookstore on many of your travel itineraries, but we actually enjoy browsing interesting books when we travel. We had heard about the Mysterious Bookshop when researching some unique places to visit during our trip to Manhattan and decided to walk there after lunch in lower Manhattan. It is located in Tribeca and originally opened in 1979, making it the oldest mystery specialist bookstore in America. One of the things that makes the bookstore unique is the wide variety of mystery novels that are stocked on the floor to ceiling shelves as well as their specialization in signed first editions.
If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes, the store has one of the largest collections of the sleuth stories in the world. One of the things that we found interesting was that in addition to the various first edition books on their shelves, they also have a variety of counterfeit books, of which they will let you know that they are not truly originals. To some extent, browsing the shelves of the Mysterious Bookshop reminded us of one of our favorite experiences in Paris when we came close to buying a first edition, four volume set of Don Quixote. There is something fascinating about seeing rare or unusual books and glancing at the various illustrations.
Looks like a fun book shop!
Wow! I adore bookshops. Won’t miss it if I ever make it back to NY city!
This looks amazing! I always make time for a few bookstores in my travels and have found that many will ship your purchases home so you don’t have to worry about carryon room.
That is the best way to get the books home.
It really is. I live in a rural area that’s almost void of bookstores so it’s a treat to find an amazing store when I travel. Things sometimes get out of hand!
LOL! We could have left with at least a dozen books. We took pics of what we wanted and order them through their website when we got home 🙂
Great idea! If you ever make it to Denver, look up Tattered Covers. They have a few locations and a great selection.
We just moved from Colorado Sprinngs to Baltimore. We have been to the Tattered Covers several times 🙂
Local bookstores are the best!
We love visiting bookshops while traveling! Thank you for sharing.
We are glad you liked the post 🙂
Sounds interesting. Would be good to check out if I make it back to the States someday.
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