{"id":373328,"date":"2025-08-25T21:42:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T21:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/373328\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T21:42:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T21:42:21","slug":"nycs-albertine-named-one-of-the-worlds-most-beautiful-bookstores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/373328\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC’s Albertine Named One of the World’s Most Beautiful Bookstores"},"content":{"rendered":"

Books are prized for their\u00a0escapist\u00a0qualities, gorgeously jetting you off to lands and adventures unknown\u2014but what about the bookstores they’re found in? Those spaces can be just as transporting, as proven by this 2025 ranking of the most beautiful bookstores in the world,\u00a0put together by book-loving travel guide site\u00a01000 Libraries<\/a>. And, as should come as no surprise to New York book lovers, one of our city’s stunning booksellers\u00a0cracked the picturesque top ten.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RECOMMENDED:\u00a0NYC\u2019s first-ever horror bookshop will make its spooky debut next month<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the best bookstores in all of NYC<\/a>, Albertine Books on the Upper East Side came in at a handsome No. 9 on this year’s global rankings, joining fellow beauties like\u00a0Shakespeare and Company in Paris (at No. 2),\u00a0El Ateneo Grand Splendid\u00a0in Buenos Aires (No. 3),\u00a0The Gently Mad Bookshop in Edinburgh (No. 4) and the first-place finisher,\u00a0Boekhandel Dominicanen in\u00a0Maastricht, Netherlands.<\/p>\n

Tucked inside the landmark Payne Whitney mansion since 2014, Albertine<\/a> is the only bookshop in New York devoted solely to books in French and English,\u00a0offering the largest selection of French literature in the United States with more than 14,000 contemporary and classic titles from 30 French-speaking countries. <\/p>\n

And it’s not just that sprawling literary collection that makes the two-floor space a must visit\u00a0\u2014\u00a0created by celebrated French designer Jacques Garcia (known for the Chateau du Champ de Bataille in Normandy and the NoMad Hotel here in NYC), the shop evokes a grand French library, with rich mahogany wood, lush\u00a0leather sofas and a designated reading room.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Albertine
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Albertine BooksAlbertine Books <\/p>\n

On display are busts crafted by the\u00a0ateliers of the Mus\u00e9e du Louvre, featuring\u00a0famous figures from French and French-American culture: think Voltaire, Tocqueville, Descartes and Benjamin Franklin. (They’re joined by a\u00a0replica of Michelangelo\u2019s Young Archer sculpture, set at the building\u2019s entrance.)\u00a0But the pi\u00e8ce de r\u00e9sistance is undoubtedly the shop’s celestial ceiling, a hand-painted mural of constellations, stars and planets that was modeled after the similarly starry, Franz von Stuck-crafted ceiling in the music room at the\u00a0Villa Stuck in Munich, Germany.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Albertine
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Albertine BooksAlbertine Books <\/p>\n

Note, if you do want to take a gander at the photogenic Albertine IRL, the uptown shop is currently\u00a0closed for summer vacation through today, August 25. (Those Europeans, ammirite?) You can reference the store’s Instagram handle<\/a> for up-to-date opening news.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on the 1000 Libraries list, London had a strong showing with both\u00a0Word on the Water and Daunt Books (at Nos. 5 and 8, respectively), joined by\u00a0Dujiangyan Zhongshuge in Chengdu, China in the sixth spot,\u00a0Eterna Cadencia from Buenos Aires, Argentina coming in seventh, and Los Angeles’\u00a0The Last Bookstore looking good at No. 10<\/p>\n