Hidden libraries The world's most unusual book depositories

Travel writer Helmuth (Fifty Places to Travel Solo) offers a charming celebration of unorthodox, out-of-the-way, and lesser-known places around the world where books are stored and shared. Among the 50 libraries featured is Street Books, a bike cart library in Portland, Ore., that serves patrons without IDs or the ability to pay overdue fines ("If we don't cross paths again, we encourage folks to pass the books on to people who will enjoy them," reads a statement on their website). The cabinet-size Little Free Library at the South Pole makes for a bright speck amid hundreds of miles of snow, while the Vatican Apostolic archives are accessible only via a vigorous screening process and contain "85 km (53 miles) of documents spanning twelve centuries of the Holy Roman Empire's rule." Vivid photographs bring the sites to life, and visiting information is provided for each library, even when the likelihood of getting there is low (London's Arcadian library requires a personal petition) or nonexistent (the Home Library of Bruno Shröder in Mettingen, Germany, "cannot be visited. It's real, but there is no publicly available address, no opening times and the librarian is deceased"). Bibliophiles will be enthralled. Photos. (Nov.)

This guide to 50 hidden (unfamiliar, unknown, unique) libraries across the globe highlights the desire to gather, curate, organize, display, and share books. Selected from locations across North America, South America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Europe, Oceania, and even outer space, the collection includes libraries anyone in the area can visit, such as a Little Free Library in a cottonwood tree in Idaho, and those that only intrepid travelers might browse, such as a Little Free Library at the South Pole. There are libraries in monasteries, vending machines, and on the beach. There is a horse library, one in space, and one online. There are memoriam libraries included as well, such as the now defunct Occupy Wall Street library, and, as is the case with "the Lost Library of the Moscow Tsars," perhaps one that never existed at all. Each library is illustrated, has instructions on how to find it, and gets a brief commentary. Nancy Pearl writes a warm-hearted forward. VERDICT A lovely title to put on a display shelf and a fun find for armchair-biblio travelers.--Neal Wyatt