Okay WOW. Just WOW.
My 19yo daughter found it. She found the labyrinthine magical bookstore that you thought only existed in stories. This place is WILD and clearly chock full of forbidden tomes that open portals to other worlds.
Get cozy and come with me on a magical journey.
Small, innocuous storefront with poetic name: CHECK.
(Spoiler: It's bigger on the inside)
Literal maze of books: CHECK
You walk into the shop and at first it looks like there are just two rooms of books. Regular used bookstore. Cool! Also antique prints and curious tucked in any open space. Lovely. Warm happy feelings already.
As with most magical things, wonders await those who look closer.
Some wonderful touches like this case of tiny miniature books
Wait, what's this? Beyond a whimsical lighted case of rare children's books, an ACTUAL BOOK VAULT 😍
Wow, that's pretty cool! Check out the Lord of the Rings poster!
But wait, what's that...?
Does that sign say...SIX MORE ROOMS?!
This is when you realize you have to explore this place like some kind of RPG bookstore dungeon with all kinds of hidden nooks and crannies with cleverly tucked-away treasure boxes
This is when you realize that you are going to be here for a long, long time
It says six more rooms, but that's not right. You can't actually count the rooms.
There are too many hallways and odd little niches full of books to even know what a room is anymore.
Rooms open into corridors open into rooms. Space has become meaningless as it expands far, FAR beyond what should be possible given the outside dimensions of the store.
"Still more," the little sign says.
Yes. YES. By this point, you are lost. You don't ever want to be found again.
As you explore, you browse, of course.
Some of the books are newer. Some are your favorite paperbacks from childhood. Others are 100 years old or more, just sitting there on the shelves. You can pick them up, handle them, breathe them in.
The books are clearly organized. There's a room of history and geography, a room of science fiction and fantasty and comics. Sometimes the system is clear and sometimes it isn't, but you know it's there.
And then there's the Old Books Room.
Oh wow. Oh WOW.
Books 100+ years old just sitting there on the shelf.
I craved this gorgeous 200 year old 4-volume set of the Canterbury Tales, but my budget was too tight to buy it.
I had to get SOMETHING. I wanted to support this magical place. My teens (completely spellbound as time slipped by) helped me look.
Really we wanted a magical tome of ancient spells, but we found this beautiful 1883 illustrated edition of Gray's Elegy. Maybe this, my 19yo said.
We paged through, looking at the illustrations, wondering at holding a 130+ year old book in our hands.
Then my daughter turned the page and we all froze.
There was a bookmark there. A lovely, hand-painted bookmark, still touched between the pages of the book.
I got CHILLS.
It had been there long enough to leave a permanent shadow on the facing page, a discoloration matching the bookmark.
We turned more pages, reverentially, and found another one.
Easter Souvenir, 1888, it said.
I won't lie, my pulse was RACING.
Someone had put those bookmarks there 130 years ago, and there they remained, a little paused moment in time.
It was surprisingly not-expensive, so we bought it.
But first, we continued on, finding what might possibly be the final room at last.
But was it really the end? There was an archway in the back...
A literal wall of books and a No Entry sign blocked the way. But there were STILL MORE books in the dim space beyond, and a lit space with yet more beyond that.
I like to think the rooms of books went on forever.
This is the Lyrical Ballad Bookstore in Saratoga Springs, NY. A cursory Google search suggests that like many magical places, they don't have a web presence. But it's not hard to find—or at least, if it WANTS you to find it—so if you're in the area, go lose yourself in it!
Slightly less cursory web search: They do have a lowkey FB page: facebook.com/people/Lyrical…
Ooh, for people sad that they don't live near enough to visit this store, check out the comments, where people have mentioned similar stores in other cities! *Takes notes for future travels*
(Oh wow, this is taking off! Hi!!! 😊 I've actually written a fantasy trilogy about a political heir who gets accidentally linked to a powerful fire warlock while hunting down a rare book and winds up in a world of trouble, if that sounds like your thing!) bookshop.org/books/the-teth…
I need to stop trying (and failing spectacularly) to keep up with my notifications and go to bed, but it makes me so happy to see all the people with fond memories of this bookstore or similar bookstores or bookstores that only exist in deep places in their imaginations 🥰
(Oh, before I go, it occurs to me that my OTHER fantasy trilogy doesn't have bookshops but it DOES have a castle with lots of odd hidden nooks and passageways and unexpected secret places, so uh, you can see why I loved this bookstore so much 😊❤️) bookshop.org/books/the-obsi…
...My notifications were murdered in the night! 😂
I can't keep up, but DEFINITELY check out all the comments with recommendations for similar bookstores, some with pictures!!! Best comments EVER! 😍
MVP commenter has put the bookstores in the comments on a map!!! 🤩 Check it out and find a fabulous bookstore near you!!!
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