Take a tour through this tardis of a bookshop

[bigtree]

Melissa Caruso @melisscaru
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.




Melissa Caruso @melisscaru
Small, innocuous storefront with poetic name: CHECK.

(Spoiler: It's bigger on the inside)




Melissa Caruso @melisscaru
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.




Melissa Caruso @melisscaru
Some wonderful touches like this case of tiny miniature books




Melissa Caruso @melisscaru
Wait, what's this? Beyond a whimsical lighted case of rare children's books, an ACTUAL BOOK VAULT 😍



...wait, what's that...? Does that sign say...SIX MORE ROOMS?!




Melissa Caruso @melisscaru 19h
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.




Melissa Caruso @melisscaru 19h
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.




Melissa Caruso @melisscaru 19h
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.



Melissa Caruso @melisscaru 19h
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!


thread:

Link to tweet

[wendyb-NC]

1. Thank you

I book marked because I'm riveted to the Weather Channel, right now.

[Wounded Bear]

2. Love old book stores...nt

[liberalla]

3. WOW is right!

[brer cat]

4. I would consider a visit there to be heaven.

[jmowreader]

5. It is at 7 Phila St., Saratoga Springs, NY

Saratoga Springs is north of Albany off Interstate 87.

[wryter2000]

6. We had one like that in Oakland

The Holmes Bookstore. A large building, two floors crammed with books. I found a paperback cookbook from 1962 I'd been looking for for ages in there. That whole part of downtown is now largely luxury apartment buildings, including the one I'm sitting in.

[erronis]

13. I remember Holmes Books. And of course Pegasus/Pellucidar in Berkeley.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Holmes-Books-Bids-Good-by-to-Oakland-Venerable-3032304.php

[wryter2000]

15. Thank you

We've lost a lot of the Oakland I used to know, but there's still much left. I hope Oakland never loses its funkiness completely.

[lucca18]

7. Amazing, Powerful & Wow!😍

[Warpy]

8. There used to be one just like it in Durham, NC

but it's probably long gone now. It was one of my favorite places to go, even if I was too broke to buy much.

I left NC in 1968 (Fled, screaming), so it's unlikely to be there. Building has probably been replaced by some gleaming tobacco company tower.

[happy feet]

9. Thank-you for sharing

The tour brought a smile to my face at the thought of wandering through.

[Solly Mack]

10. I could happily live there.

Wonderful!

[VWolf]

11. Hmmmm ... might be worth the 4 hour drive :) n/t

[sarge43]

12. If there is a heaven, that is what it looks like.

Around the corner a cozy tea shop

[Ferrets are Cool]

14. Love the bookstore and love your description!!!

[niyad]

16. KNR and bookmarking. This bibliophile thanks you.

[Hekate]

17. This one connects to L-Space -- don't get lost

What a find

[Historic NY]

18. I could get lost in there, places like that have hidden treasurers

found some original first printings of diaries and journals from the Revolutionary War. I presently own one of seven originals, mine being in the best condition of Joseph Plumb Martin when it was anonymous. I paid about 100 its now worth in the mid 4 figures.

[nuxvomica]

19. I used to go there a lot but haven't been in years

Saratoga has become so crowded nobody goes there anymore.

[MiHale]

20. If I walked into that store...

and stayed till I got carried out I would have lived a very satisfied life.

[Annie Moosee]

21. a reason

to actually go to NY

[Beartracks]

22. Map of this and other similar bookstores

Reading down the Twitter thread, Melissa Caruso noted that a lot of people had commented about other magical bookstores, and then one enterprising person mapped them all on Google... found here:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1AeUix3hB2TqSAtg8GHcDC97rUjr6WpY&ll=36.41381118344264%2C-91.38128942009973&z=6

============

[Pinback]

25. Excellent. Thanks for linking directly to this.

I’ve been to just three of the stores on this map. Looks like I’ve got some traveling to do! 🤓

[Beartracks]

26. LOL Only been to one of them.

[calimary]

23. Looks like an utterly magical place!

Thanks for showing us around, bigtree!

[txwhitedove]

24. Lovely. Reminds me of Shakespeare & Co. In Paris, which

was also magical but not as tidy, complete with cat leisurely climbing a mountain of books.