(reprinted from the L.A. Times)
For those who could fritter away hours in a good travel bookstore, there are compelling options in European capitals, starting with Stanfords in Britain.
The London flagship, which claims to have the world’s largest array of travel books and maps, may be the oldest specialty travel shop. Founded in 1853, it was mentioned in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tale “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”
Since 1901, Stanfords has made its home among the theaters of Covent Garden, where along with books and maps, you can buy flags of the world’s nations (not to mention the skull and crossbones for aspiring pirates).
The best-kept secret for travel lovers in the City of Light is Librarie Ulysse (pictured above), which has a collection of 20,000 new and used books, maps and periodicals in a narrow cupboard of a shop on the romantic Ile St. Louis. Owner Catherine Domain is a member of the Societe des Explorateurs Francais—a good thing since you have to be an explorer to find things in this marvelous old curiosity shoppe of a travel bookstore.
Finally, Rome has its own travel book treasury, the Libreria del Viaggiatore on a winding street near the Campo de’ Fiori. It’s a tiny shop but packed with items of interest to travelers, including guidebooks, maps, cookbooks and travel-related fiction in a multitude of languages. It’s at via del Pellegrino, 78, 39 06 68801048; open 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday; 10 am. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; no website.
—Susan Spano, Los Angeles Times staff writer
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