For book lovers around the world, secret libraries hold the promise of mysteries and hidden knowledge. So where can you actually find them?
The destruction of the ancient library of Alexandria still prompts a sob from book lovers today. Losing so much knowledge and wisdom certainly pains scholars. But books aren’t just important to academics.
We’ve all curled up in our favourite chair, a mug of hot tea or coffee to hand, happy to while away the hours with adventurers that become friends across the course of a book.
But there’s something magical about the quiet reverence of libraries, the hush broken only by rustling pages, or the scratching of pens. My books feature plenty of hidden archives and secret libraries, holding many riddles among their shelves. And while Martin Klein works to digitise the ARKANE archive in my thrillers, there’s still something special about libraries, especially secret ones.
So here are 9 secret libraries–and how to find them!
1) Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK
The Bodleian isn’t so much a secret library as a forgotten one. The Bodleian is older than the British Library and dates back to the days of Elizabethan magician John Dee, opening in 1602.
These days, it’s not just one library – it’s a collection of several, covering history, medicine, the law, and music, among other subjects. You can visit and tour some of the public rooms, but mostly, you need to apply for access.
Non-students can apply for a Reader card if you have a research need that the library can meet. Find out how to get access here. Just don’t expect to get in if you only want somewhere quiet to work.
When I was a student at Oxford, I used to work in the Radcliffe Camera, the domed theology library. It features in Stone of Fire, and also more recently in End of Days, as the research library for Father Ben Costanza. The Bodleian is also the starting place for Deborah Harkness' All Souls Trilogy, which I really enjoyed reading.
2) John Hay Library, Rhode Island, USA
Books bound in human skin are rare. But the John Hay Library holds three of them. One is De humani corporis fabrica (On the Structure of the Human Body) by Andreas Vesalius, one of the most famous textbooks on anatomy. The book was one of the inspirations for Desecration and also features in American Demon Hunters: Sacrifice.
The John Hay Library also has two copies of Hans Holbein the Younger's Dance of Death, rebound in human skin in 1898.
If that's not occult enough for your tastes, then they also hold papers by H. P. Lovecraft, papyri from ancient Egyptian, clay tablets from Babylon, and Napoleon's death mask. What other ritualistic books might hide on their shelves?
3) Book and Bed Tokyo, Japan
If you've ever dreamed of falling asleep in a fort made of books, then this bookshop-themed hotel might help you fulfil that. Guests book sleeping compartments surrounded by bookshelves boasting 1,700 titles in both English and Japanese.
It's less of a library and more of a book-friendly hostel. But guests can stay up reading as late as they like. Their website explains that the Book and Bed is not designed to provide a good night's sleep – so don’t expect comfy beds and fluffy pillows.
Instead, Book and Bed lets guests browse at their leisure, and doze off in their snug compartment among the bookshelves.
4) Little Free Library, worldwide
These secret libraries have more than one branch. Run as a non-profit organisation, Little Free Library works using principles of community and creativity. Volunteers, known as stewards, build their own Little Free Library they host in their own community.
The concept is simple. Readers may take books to read or leave books behind for others. People can donate books by leaving them in their nearest Little Free Library. It's a great way for people to share their favourite books with their local community.
Stewards can get access to free and discounted books through the partners of the main organisation. Their goal is to increase access to books for all readers but mainly those in their local area. In November 2016, there were over 50,000 registered Little Free Library exchanges around the world.
If you want to search for Little Free Libraries near you, visit their map! Or if you love the idea of starting one, click here to find out how.
5) Szabo Ervin Library, Hungary
Budapest is a fascinating city to visit, and it certainly captured my imagination when I wrote One Day in Budapest. But as well as holding the Holy Right Hand, the city is also home to the Szabo Ervin Library, king of the secret libraries.
You won't find it in many guidebooks, which is a shame because it's worth seeing. It was originally a palace built in the 19th century, and the library hides within the modern library surrounding it.
The rooms of the beautiful Wenckheim Palace became reading rooms for the new Central Library in 1931. The old Smoking Room is a must-see space, with its gallery and spiral staircase.
6) Book Club of California, San Francisco
A poet, a book collector, a bookstore owner and a printer founded this safe house of print in 1912. The Club originally only promoted writing from California, but it now covers the West as a whole.
The Club has published over 200 books, and like all the best secret libraries, their clubhouse also holds its own collections of rare books.
Best of all, it's open to the public during the day. So if you’re a person who still distrusts the Kindle, you’ll be right at home at the Book Club.
7) The Literary and Philosophical Society, Newcastle, UK
The largest independent library outside of London is affectionately known as the Lit and Phil. A stone’s throw from Newcastle upon Tyne’s Central Station, this gorgeous Georgian-styled building first opened in 1825. It now holds over 160,000 titles and its mission remains the same – to educate the people of the city.
Academics discovered a mistranslation of an Egyptian mummy’s name thanks to forgotten documents hidden on the Lit and Phil’s shelves. You can see Bakt-en-Hor in all her glory at the nearby Great Museum North.
It also provides meeting spaces and hosts regular talks and performances to help raise funds for the library. Members can even borrow books by post!
8) The Bookbike of Pima County, USA
8) The Bookbike of Pima County, USAThis is one library that should not be a secret. The Pima County Public Library in Tucson, Arizona provides the Bookbike of Pima County. Volunteers hand out free books and library cards and provide information about local library and literacy programs. There are three Bookbikes, all run by volunteers. They gave away 11,276 books in 2012!
The Bookbikes make monthly visits to a range of locations, including a farmers' market, a soup kitchen, low-income housing, an LGBT centre for teenagers, and a women's shelter. The volunteers behind the Bookbike want to reach potential readers who find it difficult to access libraries. If the readers can't go to the libraries, they'll just bring the library to them. Simple!
You can find them on Facebook if you’d like to know where they’ll be next.
9) Vatican Secret Archives, Vatican City, Italy
No list of secret libraries would be complete without an entry on the Vatican. Brought to the public’s attention by Dan Brown’s thriller Angels and Demons, the archives opened to selected groups in 2010. Previously, only approved academics could gain access.
You can find the archives in a wing of the Vatican behind St Peter's Basilica. There are more than 52 miles of shelving below ground, and the oldest document dates to the 8th century.
The archives also hold letters about King Henry VIII's annulment from Catherine of Aragon, trial records for the Knights Templar in the early 14th century, and correspondence between the Vatican and figures like Michelangelo and even Hitler. The archives also feature in my ARKANE thriller, Destroyer of Worlds.
The Vatican like to claim the archives are private, rather than secret. But there is still a section inaccessible to academics. What hidden treasures might lie within?
This list just scratches the surface of the world of secret libraries. So next time you visit a new city, see if you can find a hidden treasure trove tucked away.
I read 99% ebooks these days. I am a Kindle addict although I often buy the ebook after seeing it in print in a physical bookstore. Being in a print library has meant I am rediscovering the joys of book browsing and the labyrinthine stacks of the London Library are quite the adventure. I had a lovely moment of serendipity the other day when researching apocalyptic art for my next novel Prophecy and came across the book from an exhibition of the apocalypse I had attended in the year 2000 at the British Library. The images of that event have remained with me over the years and in finding the book, I was able to renew my knowledge and weave stories out of the result. I do actually have the book myself but it's in storage in Brisbane, Australia so marvelous to find it here! Research is one of the joys of writing a book and the London Library is a rich resource for it.
I exit the Tube at Green Park and walk through some of the most expensive real estate in London. It's populated by royalty, the Ritz, art dealers and auctioneers like Sothebys, expensive boutique shops with armed guards, hidden member's clubs and embassies. The library sits in one corner of the elegant St James' Square which boasts a beautiful park to sit for coffee and lunch in the sun. It isn't far from Bond Street, Regent Street and some lovely (window) shopping and my treat is to go to Waterstones bookshop for more browsing before I head home. The Library itself may look small but it's a tardis inside, stretching across multiple buildings behind the slim facade.
