Melbourne was designated a UNESCO City of Literature back in 2008, and it’s no wonder why.
Melbourne is home to Australia’s oldest public library, the State Library of Victoria. It’s home base for Lonely Planet and the Wheeler Centre. Host of the Melbourne Writers’ Festival. Location of Scribe Publications, Affirm Press, and Penguin Random House Australia, among other publishing houses. We have world class bookstores dotted all over the city, many of them located near cafes serving world class coffee.
One of my favourite hobbies is bookstore browsing, so I’ll do my best to keep this list of my favourite bookstores updated for my fellow booklovers.
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City Basement Books
342 Flinders St, Melbourne
http://www.citybasementbooks.com.au/
The entrance to City Basement Books is located on Flinders St, and if you’re not looking for it, you’ll probably miss it. Down a big, steep staircase, what lies beneath Flinders Street is a veritable cornucopia of books. So many, there is literally not enough room for them on shelves; they overflow in piles all over the place. Heaven
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Gone But Not Forgotten…
Grub Street Bookshop, Fitzroy
This was my happy place. The place I could never leave empty handed. The place that I always had time to visit, even when my parking was about to run out.
They had more books than they could fit on the old shelving, piling them up on the floor, on small tables, in cardboard boxes and wherever else they could fit them. You’d find second hand books on everything from cooking to history, art to travel, crime novels to science fiction, and literally everything in between, as well as some beautiful vintage first editions. I loved everything about this shop, from the creaky floors to the smell of the old pages, and I’ll miss it dearly.
The Merchant of Fairness at South Melbourne Markets is a good place to pick up an unusual bargain, too.
Thanks Dean, I’ve actually never heard of this place, looking forward to checking it out!