Two former librarians have turned a 1920s bank into a bookshop, with children's books in the old strongroom and a reading table where the counter used to be.
After eighteen months behind scaffolding, the Central Library on Old Quay is open again, with a repaired roof, a digitised harbour archive and a reading room that stays open until midnight.
Books piled to the ceiling, leather bindings and old editions with yellowing pages.
From Paris to Dublin, Melbourne to Adelaide, the architecture of reading rooms.
In an age of speed and summaries, losing yourself unhurriedly in a book has become a rarer and more precious experience.
