Book town

A book town is a town or village with a large number of second-hand or antiquarian book shops. These shops, and sometimes also literary festivals, attract bibliophile tourists to them. A number of the book towns are organised in the International Organisation of Book Towns.

Bookshop in Hay-on-Wye

Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop

List of book towns

Known dates

• Jinbōchō, Tokyo, Japan (early 1880s)
• Hay-on-Wye, Wales (1961)
• Redu, Belgium (1984)
• Bécherel, France (1988)
• Montolieu, France (1989)
• Bredevoort, Netherlands (1993)
• Stillwater, Minnesota, U.S.A., [1] (1993)
• Saint-Pierre-de-Clages, Switzerland (1993)
• Fontenoy-la-Joûte, France (1993)
• Mundal, Fjærland, Norway (1995)
• Wigtown, Scotland (1997)
• Zossen-Wünsdorf, Germany (1997)
• Damme, Belgium (1997)
• Dalmellington, Scotland (1997, though the last bookseller closed in 2005 and the project has folded)
• Sysmä, Finland (4 July 1997)
• Mühlbeck-Friedersdorf, Germany (1997)
• Kampung Buku Langkawi, Malaysia (3 December 1997)
• Archer City, Texas, U.S.A. (1999)
• Southern Highlands, Australia (2000)
• Mellösa, Sweden (17 February 2001)
• Tvedestrand, Norway (2003)
• Sedbergh, England (2003)
• Blaenavon, Wales (28 June 2003, though the project had folded by March 2006)
• Brownville, Nebraska, U.S.A., (2004)[2](www.brownville-ne.com)
• Hobart, NY - Book Village of the Catskills ([3]) (2005)
• Atherstone, Warwickshire (2005)
• Torup, Denmark (2006)
• Kampung Buku Melaka, Malaysia [4] (17 April 2007)
• Clunes, Victoria, Australia (2007)
• St. Martins, New Brunswick, Canada (2007)[5]
• Urueña, Spain (2007) [6]
• Bellprat, Spain (2008) [7]
• Esquelbecq, France (2010) [8] (www.esquelbook.com)

Montereggio (Mulazzo (MS) Italia

Dates not listed

• Sidney, British Columbia
• Bosu-dong, Jung-gu, Busan, South Korea
• Gold Cities BookTown, Grass Valley, California

External links

• International Organisation of Book Towns