When I visited a friend in the Netherlands last month I returned to a shop that I had stumbled upon on a previous visit. I knew it had only a small English section but also knew it was bursting with books and that browsing that English section would be an adventure. Given how full the store was two years ago, I was a bit worried it wouldn’t still be there. But it was, and this time I wasn’t as shy about roaming…no that’s not right…tip-toeing my way into other parts of the store. Mainly just because I wasn’t ready to leave. It was worth it, there were plenty of English books tucked away here and there and I came across an atlas that was just the kind of thing I have been looking for lately.
A fairly modest stack of five books taken from the billions in the store. But given 90% were not in English, and I had limited space in my luggage, this seemed an okay haul. More on the stack further down this post.That’s daylight over there.A view of the English corner. I had to move that plastic bag full of New Yorkers from 2011 just so I could put both of my feet together.There is a certain elegance to these swirling stacks.Remember this view when you scroll onto the next photo.The same view 20 years ago.I’ve had mixed success with Rose Macaulay, but the premise of this books sounded too fascinating to pass up.It is amazing what I don’t remember from being a history major. I guess since I focused on English history I shouldn’t feel too bad about that. Lately I’ve been hankering for an atlas that shows the ebbs and flows of various dynasties in “The West” over time. This was marked at 20 euros but without me saying a word about the price he gave it to me for nine. I would have happily paid 20. Maybe he wanted to make room for new stock.I should mention that I found this atlas roaming free on one of the piles. If I hadn’t expanded my browsing beyond the English corner, I never would have found this gem.I don’t think I’ve ever seen the publisher’s information on the cover of a book before. Particularly with their address.On my first trip to England at the precious age of 19, I went to 17 different cathedral cities. In the subsequent years I added at least another 10 cathedrals, minsters, and abbeys, and never once did I ever come across even the name of Beverly Minster.One of my favorite cathedrals. The inside is just as eclectic as the outside.
Good think you didn’t want any books that were at the absolute bottom of a pile. Nice haul of books you might have been hard-pressed to find elsewhere though.
A minster is an honorific, some cathedrals are minsters, some parish churches are minsters, some are former cathedrals or collegiate churches. And some minsters don’t refer to themselves as a minster. Very confusing.
Wow. I do think I’d be in constant terror of a stack falling on me – or of me causing a stack to fall. Did you have to pull any of your finds from the middle of a stack?
hogglestock 
Heavens! It makes my house look positively tidy! I’d like to visit, but I think working there might bring on extreme claustrophobia!!!
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Holy crap. They have some books.
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Good think you didn’t want any books that were at the absolute bottom of a pile. Nice haul of books you might have been hard-pressed to find elsewhere though.
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What a cool shop! And Beverley’s in Yorkshire and is meant to be lovely, although typically of me, I know of it but have never been.
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I don’t think I ever realized that minster is the name of a type of church. Difference between minster and cathedral?
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A minster is an honorific, some cathedrals are minsters, some parish churches are minsters, some are former cathedrals or collegiate churches. And some minsters don’t refer to themselves as a minster. Very confusing.
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Wow. I do think I’d be in constant terror of a stack falling on me – or of me causing a stack to fall. Did you have to pull any of your finds from the middle of a stack?
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I love bookshops like this. Imagine if all those books had been in English what you would have gone home with.
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