An 80-year-old German man lived every book lovers fantasy! Over his lifetime, this recluse collected and stored over 70k books in a hidden library! And did we mention, he didn’t tell anyone about it?
Would you believe it if we told you that one man was able to collect over 70,000 books over his lifetime? The answer is probably yes, don’t we all think we have that many books hiding throughout the nooks and crannies of our homes? Well, this former mining engineer restructured his life to accomodate his personal library! It’s almost like this private library was his best kept secret!
I’m not one to support or promote stereotypes, however (!) whatever fantasy or idealistic version of Germany that you have cooked up in your fantastical literary minds is exactly what the town of Mettingen looks like. Talk about a tourist’s wet dream! I mean, just look at aesthetically pleasing this town is (yes, we’re talking about aesthetics for half a second)!
Mettingen, North Rhine-Westphalia
cr. Commons WikiMedia / J.-H. Janßen
As fun as Mettingen looks, you’re not here for that! I know what you want to see. You want library porn! Let me tell you a little bit about Bruno Schröder, the bookish collector that we’re honoring today.
Bruno was a mining engineer for most of his life. In his free time–and later during retirement–he spent his days browsing the shelves of a local bookshop.
As his collection began to grow, the single-family home that he shared with his wife, simply wasn’t offering enough storage for his wares.
Never fear though, for Bruno has the training to know just how much his home could take and what he would need to build to assist it! He crafted the majority of the shelving and storage for his massive secret library.
Every. single. square. foot. of. his. house. is. covered. in. books.
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