Literature lovers, you must recognize this situation: it feels so sad to find your favourite works somewhere in a small hidden corner after passing kilometers of thrillers and fantasy books (nothing against them, by the way). Fortunately, there’s at least one bookstore in Amsterdam where it is the other way around: Atheneum is specialized in academical books, meaning classical novels, lexica, scientific publications, art books etc… which they sell in several (European) languages. The shop is rather small but has a good collection, the staff is friendly and very well informed and you can tell they have a passion for their work. I’m glad that such places still exist! 

What adds to the charm of Atheneum is the beautiful building from the Art-Deco period and its location at Spui in the very heart of Amsterdam’s old centre. As I have written in my other articles, I regularly borrow books at the public library (check out my article OBA), but whenever there’s something I really wanna own or give away as a present, Atheneum is my place to go 🙂