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Dutch / Nederlands

Bookshops

Just as writing is a passion of me, so is visiting bookshops and collecting books. Almost every Saturday when we go shopping, I go at least to one bookshop. Sometimes, I visit three bookshops, not counting the books section of the appartment store where we (used to) park our car. I have sometimes dreamed of owning a bookshop myself.

Below, a description of some of the bookshops that I like with references to stories found in my online diaries.

De Slegte in Enschede [logo]

This is probably the bookshop I visited most frequently in my whole life. Almost always when we go into the city, I walk into this store, even if it is only for a few minutes. They sell books at discount rates, both left overs from other shops and second hand books. They always keep some stock of each book in the shop. It is where I bought some of my most favourite books. The shop has three floors. On the first floor most popular books can be found. The second floor has a large collection of second hand books. The third floor has a mixture of second hand books and new books sold for discount prices.

The shop has a lot of mirrors. Some of the pillars on the first floor are covered with mirrors. Then on the stair leading to the third floor there are mirrors around on the floor. If you are standing on the right height you can see yourself from many directions. If you are standing on the top of the this stair, you can see through these mirrors a spy mirror on the first floor reflecting part of the street in front of the store. (Both the second and third floor do not have any windows from which the street can be seen.)

Some dates on which I visited this bookshop are:

De Slegte in Utrecht

Dates on which I visited this bookshop are: External links:

Broekhuis in Enschede [logo]

Referenced in:

Kruimeltje in Enschede

A second hand bookshop in Enschede. This shop was owned for a long time by Erik Kappelhoff. Around 2006 it was taken over by Margriet Kramer.

De Bijenkorf in Enschede

This is a large aparment store with also a considerable book section.

Broese in Utrecht

This bookshop is near the central public library.

De Slegte in Maastricht

Referenced in:

De Slegte in Amsterdam

Referenced in:

Selexyz Scheltema in Amsterdam

Bezocht op:

Xinhua International City of Books in Urumqi, Xinjiang, China

This is definitely one of the largest bookshops that I have every visited. Whether it also had the most titles, I am not sure, because they they seemed to carry multiple copies of each title. (Picture.)

Dates on which I visited this bookshop are:

David in Enschede

A small Christian bookshop.

Dillons in London

When I went to Eastbourne in 1978, I visited this bookshop twice (if I am not mistaken). The first time was on July 15. On July 21, I went all on my own to this bookshop in London. There I bought LISP 1.5 Programmer's Manual.

Birmingham

I remember two bookshops in Birmingham. One is the Waterstones Booksellers shop at 24 High Street. The other that I remember had exists on more than one street. I also have a vague memory that some part was on the opposite site of a little alley.

Karssen in Woerden

This was a small bookshop on Kruisstraat number 4. I bought some of my first books here, including books about puzzles and typewriters. Around 1995 is was combined with the bookshop mentioned below.

Kraaienbrink in Woerden

This was a bookshop and stationary shop in the Voorstraat (mainstreet) on the number 28 and 30. I bought several novels here, including Dune. Now the shop is owned by Fa W. Karssen en Zn.

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