Tulibris

(© Saskia Vanderstichele)

The brand-new second-hand bookshop Tulibris feels like the living room of its owner, Peter De Meersman. With some background music, you can browse through his extensive collection of English books.

Bookshops are closing faster than new ones are opening, the owner of Tulibris tells us. His wife came up with the contraction of Tulpstraat/rue de la Tulipe and libris. People are reading less generally, and the majority of bookworms order most of their literature online. But Peter De Meersman thinks that it would be a shame to lose the charm of rummaging among real books.

De Meersman, a regular customer of various antique bookshops, always cherished the dream of opening his own bookshop someday. He admits, though, that more than anything it is just a good excuse to have his nose stuck in a book all day himself. When he discovered the empty building on Tulpstraat/rue de la Tulipe, the fulfilment of his dream suddenly accelerated. After intensive renovations, De Meersman transformed the place into a cosy, homely place, with an authentic floor with a blue/yellow pattern, warm ochre walls, a Scandinavian wooden bookcase, standing lamps for atmospheric lighting, a retro radio, design chairs by Marcel Breuer, and a few ceramic vases. Incidentally, this modest collection of vintage items is also for sale. The fine, made to measure shelves on the wall contain about 1,000 books.

De Meersman only reads literature in English now because he enjoys English humour and swears by the original version. He carefully selected every book in the shop himself, for which he rummaged through numerous second-hand shops and flea markets. William Boyd, Graham Greene, Ian McEwan, Paul Auster, Richard Dawkins on evolutionary biology, Ahmed Rashid on Afghanistan and Pakistan, Henry Kissinger on the USA and Foreign Policy, and many, many more. There are also fine publications on the arts, photography, travelling, and Brussels. The books are all in remarkably good condition; some of them even look new. The prices are very democratic and range from 3 euro for a Penguin edition to 25 euro for art books. De Meersman has read most of his own collection himself, so he can advise his customers personally. If you are interested in cheaply priced English literature but don’t feel like looking into all those old, dusty boxes yourself, you can trust his selection implicitly. Last but not least, donations are very welcome at Tulibris. For example, Eurocrats who are going back home leave their books here rather than throwing them away.

TULIBRIS ••••
Tulpstraat 25 rue de la Tulipe, Elsene/Ixelles, 0475-29.31.23, www.tulibris.be, ma/lu/Mo 13 >16.00, di/ma/Tu, do/je/Th & za/sa/Sa 11> 18.30, vr/ve/Fr 11 > 16.00