Book Market, Lviv

Sunday, February 20, 2011

While wandering around Lviv, we ran into a quirky little book market. Random tables, cardboard boxes, and suitcases displayed piles of old books in Russian and Ukrainian. Old records and small Soviet pins also found their way into the mix of merchandise. I picked up all the pretty covers and thumbed through the old pages, wishing I could read Ukrainian a little better. I am in love with the folksy illustrations in old Ukrainian children's books, partly because they remind me of my childhood but mostly because they're just darling. I was hoping to find some pretty ones to take home, but I had no luck since there weren't many children's books to begin with.

The book market is appropriately clustered around a statue of Ivan Fedorov, the father of Ukrainian and Russian printing.

- Julia


14 comments :

  1. Wow, very cool! What a find... I'd love to stumble upon a book market!

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  2. FIRST!!

    Lovely photos :) Even more, what lovely books!

    xx Kat

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  3. i envy your life! how many more countries do you have left?

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  4. I would love to visit a book market like this sometime... I would also love to be able to read the language in which the books are written! Great photos from a unique and quirky little market!

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  5. Awww .. books are such beautiful treasures ... I love the suitcases .. lol

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  6. i absolutely love old books. I have had my mom hold on to our old arithmetic's books from Russia. The illustrations are so fascinating.

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  7. if those books were in english, i'd be all over that.

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  8. my husbands favorite is the terminator book. i hope you purchased it. it's very rare here in the states.

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  9. I would die to come across this book market. I collect old books, I love old books and the illustrations! I agree they are so amazing. I have a bunch of those old Russian pins too!

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  10. Haley- We're at our LAST stop now: Thailand! But we still have quite a few countries to blog about. There are so many photos and we're busy traveling, so it's taking us a while to write about it all.

    Inessa- I'm with you! They are so much better than boring American textbooks, aren't they?

    Janis-What do you have on Ukrainian books, huh?

    Kae- Most of the time it was me (Julia) going "oh look at this one! its so pretty". Then Yuriy found a book he was really excited about... I look, and its the Terminator. Our men have something in common.

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  11. This looks amazing! I absolutely adore vintage books. After your posts, I have definitely added Budapest & Ukraine to my list of places to see. Were you ever able to get your camera fixed?

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  12. How great you two stumbled upon this book market! It looks so fun. I love the smell of old books... and those old suitcases are lovely!

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