Hay-on-Wye book town in England

Hay-on-Wye book town in England

English writer Samuel Butler aptly: "the oldest book – hot new product for those who have not read". "Book town" of hay-on-Wye is a popular destination for second – hand bookshops, because you can find countless battered tomes, which is a pleasure.



Book stores on the streets of hay-on-Wye

Hay-on-Wye is a small market town situated on the East Bank of the river Wye in Wales. Book lovers from across the UK come here to enjoy the unique atmosphere in the narrow streets you can find more than 40 cozy bookstores. In addition, in may every year, it hosts a literary festival "Hay", sponsored by the newspaper the Guardian, which attracts about 80 thousand writers, publishers and lovers of literature from all over the world.



Hay-on-Wye is a book lovers dream

Book the history of the city began in 1861, when Richard Booth opened the first of the literary "second-hand" in the building of the fire station. The entrepreneur hired two local men and traveled with them to America, where massively closed the library and the books were simply thrown away. Float paper treasures across the ocean, he began to sell books for a nominal fee. Soon a bookshelf filled the entire town, and by the 1970's years, hay-on-Wye has become a Mecca for readers from all surrounding areas. By the way, today the city is visited by about 500 thousand tourists a year.



Book stores on the streets of hay-on-Wye

Feature books that the goods on display, readers should be omitted in special boxes 50p for paperback and £1 for the publication is firmly bound. The main architectural attraction of the town is the stone castle built in the 12th century, today in old buildings is also a book shop, and the defensive walls around him turned into shelves with books.



The castle, surrounded by bookshelves

Festival "Hay" was first held in 1988 and since then has become the hallmark of the city. In hay-on-Wye with his works came such recognized masters of the word, as David Simon, Stephen fry, Salman Rushdie, Simon Singh and others. Today, in addition to the literature program of the festival includes musical performances and film screening.



The announcement of the sale of books

By the way, the resourceful British managed to improvizirovat library prvratit and London's iconic phone booths!



In the city there are books for every reader. published

 

Source: www.amusingplanet.com/2014/11/hay-on-wye-town-of-books.html