Bookworm in Amsterdam

I was in Amsterdam for a few days last week, fulfilling my need to be away from this country at a time when memories deserved to be cossetted in cotton wool.  As there are no known de-worming treatments for the plight of bookworm, this particular bookworm managed to find herself admiring not just the beautiful and historic architecture of the city, but also its bookshops.  The first one to be visited was The American Book Center, in which I discovered a curved bookcase display that traversed from the ground floor all the way up to floor three and on into the rafters of the building.  The staff tell me that they need special ladders to reach the uppermost shelves.  Here you can see why.

Starting on floor three where you will you find fiction, you can the see the height, but not the full height in the first pic (click on the pics to see bigger versions for detail).  The depth of the store did not allow a perspective to get the whole of the height of the display into the frame, so I took another shot nearer the floor.  This should allow you a fuller view of the challenges faced!

Before heading down the stairs to floor two, I thought it was worth taking a pic of the split level environment.  If you look through the open plan stairs in this third pic you can see the continuation of the bookcase display on the second floor.

On arrival on floor two, it was cause for celebration.  I had expected to find crime within the fiction section, but it has its own section on floor two (along with sci-fi, horror and a few other things). 

I have to admit I was tempted and I bought three novels (2 x Stephen L. Carter and 1 x Benjamin Black).  I had expected this bookshop to sell US published titles only, but they had UK editions too.  They had one copy left of Chris Ewan's pb The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam - a UK edition - and when I checked with the staff I discovered that the follow-up, The Good Thief's Guide to Paris, was on order.  (I already had one waiting at home.)  Paris is published in the US right now, but will be published in the UK in Feb 2009.

And here we go, it's the extended bookcase on floor two.  I have no idea who the smiling young man was.  He and his friends saw me poised with camera and waiting, and kept me waiting for some time before they moved off after blocking my view.  In the end I lost patience.  He was enjoying his time in the bookshop, so I took the shot.

Finally, we have the first floor and I have to admit that I didn't manage to take a shot of the ground floor, but you get the picture - I hope!

The American Book Center is well worth a visit because the staff obviously love books and are very friendly and enthusiastic.

I also had a quiet laugh to myself because when I first met Lady Dudman, Keeper of the Snails, she exclaimed "You look Welsh".  In Amsterdam and at The American Book Center in particular, I was spoken to in Dutch first.  When I replied in English, I found that one sales assistant spoke perfect English in a northern accent and the other carried a Home Counties lilt.  Clearly, I am not so obviously Welsh-looking when it comes to travels in Europe...

Here, with a last comment is a branch of the Dutch bookselling chain that recently won "Bookseller of the Year" for 2008-2009.  I have no idea what the name of the bookseller means or translates as, but the first part which appears after dark in more neon-pink than red suggests something else to a Brit.  It's the letters in the first word that does it: SELEXZY & Scheltema.  But this is a serious bookseller, even if the bicycles parked out front prevent the passer-by getting a decent look at the window diplays.  (The long-sighted might be OK.)

I also visited other bookshops that had a range of goods not seen in the UK.  Yes, we might do books with DVDs and CDs, but vibrators too?  However, we have something in common with the Dutch and of note here: battery-operated anythings are sold where batteries are not.  Thus the Dutch may suffer the same Christmas predicament as in the UK.

In addition to the chains and specialists, there are more specialist bookshops in Amsterdam and plenty of them.  You can concentrate on Dutch books, cookery books (this Christmas, Nigella and Delia seem to be the most in demand), collectables from years gone by.  Unlike London, Amsterdam seems to have an independent bookshop on very block, but then, they also have fixed prices for books and no major inroads into discounting as we have seen in the UK following the demise of the "net book agreement".  They still have lots of lovely indies and they appear to be doing very well.

More on Amsterdam later this week, if you're up for it.  It won't be more on books, but more on culture and the architecture. I think I met Amsterdam's most chatty male (older) when he covered the history of his street from 1500 something to 1600 something and declared it to be the birth of Amsterdam's renowned "tolerance", within 10 minutes and before cycling off.  Then on the plane home I encountered Utrecht's most chatty male (very much younger); he had a great insight and reflection on UK culture, as well as interesting thoughts on the global economy.

Comments

[Chris Ewan]

Hi CFR. Glad to hear you had a good time in the 'dam. The American Book Center is a great store and nice to see they had a copy of Amsterdam!

Chris

[Anne Brooke]

Sounds fabulous indeed!

:))

Axxx