Independent bookstores are more than just places to buy books – they’re treasure-houses for ideas and the imagination, places of refuge and solace in a byte-size world of fake news, and community hubs for curious minds. Each one is an idiosyncratic reflection of their owner’s obsessions and enthusiasms; some are legends in their own right. Documentary and portrait photographer Horst A Friedrichs captures their Shelf Portraits. Carl Sagan said that “a book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.” From a floating bookstore on a barge to an emporium housed in a converted church, these are the places where the magic happens.
