Its Palladian interior resembles a cross between a temple to books and a greenhouse where ideas grow. I'm talking about Daunt Books, a terrific shop of new and used tomes, located in London's fashionable Marylebone district. The downstairs houses current releases while the upstairs holds the real drama: a glass pitched roof rising two stories above the wooden floor and a gallery of treasures where bibliophiles can lose themselves for hours.

The way the store is organized is truly inspired and a treat for the traveler (or as the British spell it, traveller). Volumes are grouped by region, e.g., in the France section I found Madame Bovary, Colette's biography, and Lonely Planet's guides to Provence and the Cote d'Azur, all side by side. Mr. Daunt obviously knows something about how the literate traveler's mind works. If one is interested in going to France, then why not French culture?

This establishment operates the way a bookstore should, books hand sold by a knowledgeable staff, a refreshing change from the BooksRUs model where items are sold as a commodity rather than as literature -- something people actually read. Visit when you're in London and let your mind wander the world along with your feet.

_____________________________________

Details

Daunt Books for Travellers
83 Marylebone High St., London, W1U 4QW
Telephone: 0207-224-2295