International Association of Book Towns, for scenic villages devoted to used books

The International Association of Book Towns ("a small rural town or village in which second-hand and antiquarian bookshops are concentrated") collects information about delightful bibliophiles' paradises. I once spent a magical day combing the shops of one of these places and by the end of it I was drunk on binder's glue, ink, and silverfish. I.O.B. - International Organisation of Book Towns (Thanks, Marilyn!)

[#1 posted by mdhatter , August 9, 2008 2:20 PM]

I nominate Montague, MA.

[#2 posted by Anonymous , August 9, 2008 3:01 PM]

Stillwater Minnesota was a book town.
how did they lose their status??

[#3 posted by Eutychus , August 9, 2008 3:18 PM]

They are missing Bécherel, France (see Wikipedia EN article for that name):

'Bécherel is a small village, called the "village of the books"[1] because there are fifteen bookstores for around 660 inhabitants'.

[#4 posted by Agent 86 , August 9, 2008 4:27 PM]

only one US location :(

[#5 posted by guildencrantz , August 9, 2008 4:54 PM]

Antiquarian shops in New Orleans' French Quarter generally have (at least used to) maps at the counter with a slew of shops located on them. In college I'd frequently take a day walking the Quarter and trolling these shops; I haven't been back since Katrina and I've often wondered how these fabulous shops have fared.

[#6 posted by acb , August 9, 2008 5:10 PM]

And no towns in Australia. I'm disappointed, though not entirely surprised.

[#7 posted by teddanson , August 9, 2008 5:27 PM]

It's got to be Hay-on-Wye; that place has some really cool bookshops.

[#8 posted by untruthy , August 9, 2008 5:30 PM]

This is cool; I didn't know there were any "book towns" other than Hay-on-Wye.

Their only US link seems to be to ... Pennsylvania?

[#9 posted by aeon , August 9, 2008 5:32 PM]

Hay-on-Wye is well worth a visit. Not only is it full of bookshops, but it's set in the beautiful borderlands between Wales and England, probably one of the UK's best kept secrets as most tourists just pass through The Marches on their way to somewhere else.

[#10 posted by triskelion , August 9, 2008 5:34 PM]

Booktowns aka where books go to die.

You will only find overpriced volumes here, hawked by venal booksellers...

[#11 posted by travelina , August 9, 2008 6:34 PM]

The only US link was supposed to be to Larry Portzline, author of "Bookstore Tourism," who ran bookstore tours to various US cities and a website with that name, but he's no longer doing it. You can still buy his book, though, which is about how to plan a bookstore tour:
http://www.amazon.com/Bookstore-Tourism-Planning-Promoting-Bibliophiles/dp/0975893408/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218331256&sr=8-1

Here's an interview with Portzline on World Hum last year:
http://www.worldhum.com/qanda/item/larry_portzline_inside_bookstore_tourism_20051003/

[#12 posted by buddy66 , August 9, 2008 6:58 PM]

It's getting late early, I guess. I mis-read Portzline's title as ''Bookstore Terrorism''!

[#13 posted by Talia , August 9, 2008 7:26 PM]

Seems pretty incomplete. I'm sure there are such places in the U.S.

[#14 posted by proto opus , August 9, 2008 9:44 PM]

how about archer city, texas?

from wikipedia:

"...In 1988 he [Larry Mc Murtry] opened another Booked Up in Archer City, establishing the town as an American "book city." The Archer City store is arguably the largest single used bookstore in the United States, carrying somewhere between 400,000 and 450,000 titles. Citing economic pressures from Internet bookselling, McMurtry came close to shutting down the Archer City store in 2005, but chose to keep it open after an outpouring of public support."

[#15 posted by CANTFIGHTTHEDITE , August 9, 2008 10:16 PM]

I feel the need to mention Halifax, NS (Canada, eh!). A good many used-book stores worth browsing, the one on the corner of Barrington and Sackville (as I recall) being of particular note. Lovely place.

[#16 posted by Robert , August 10, 2008 5:24 AM]

I like the Pennsylvania one. "Bookstore Tourism: No posts match your query." Did Larry actually delete all of his posts? Was he ashamed of them?

[#17 posted by Anonymous , August 10, 2008 5:30 AM]

In a word, Berkeley. Hope they mentioned it.

[#18 posted by catsford , August 10, 2008 7:50 AM]

In response to Guildencrantz, was in NOLA last month and Crescent City Books is still open in the Quarter. Also a couple of places on Royal mixed in with the antique stores. A couple more on the Frenchman street side of the Quarter. There wasn't much flooding in the Quarter proper....just all around...still pretty sad.

[#19 posted by andrew brandou , August 10, 2008 8:18 AM]

book towns, huh? sounds like the beginning of some dystopian scifi novel...

[#20 posted by bjacques , August 11, 2008 4:34 AM]

Tell me about it. I got stuck with "The Da Vinci Code." They said it was because my parents memorized the complet works of Jacqeline Susanne and I have "airport novels in my blood." What the f*ck is an "airport novel"

--Irritated in Ivry

[#21 posted by 123oleary , August 12, 2008 6:28 AM]

St. Martin's, NB is in the process of becoming a Booktown ... check it out here:

http://www.stmartinsbooktown.org/