Redu's an open book

Bibliophiles will think that they have died and gone to heaven upon setting foot in Redu, a charming Belgian town in the heart of the Ardennes forest founded as continental Europe's first ‘book village' in 1984.

That's exactly what happened to Henriette Luyckx when she first visited 16 years ago.

She fell in love with the town, found a building in which to set up shop and relocated from Brussels to open the country's first nautical-themed bookstore. She also heads the non-profit association of the town's 40 businesses, of which 23 are bookshops.

Luycxk estimates that her shop, Librairie de Marine, stocks some 20,000 volumes.

Why a nautical theme? “It's my personal passion,” she says, though she admits that she hasn't read all the tomes herself.

Though the town's bookstores, Marine included, all specialise in second-hand books, Luyckx also sells some new books as well – not to mention postcards, posters, barometers and other nautical knickknacks - because there's still no other shop like this one anywhere else in the land.

One can say the same for Redu, which attracts some 200,000 visitors a year from all over Europe and as far afield as the United States and Japan.

This charming town of 400 inhabitants about an hour's drive south of Brussels in the Haut-Lesse region is the mecca of second-hand bookstores.

One upon a time

Though the town traces its origins back some 1,100 years, in April 1984 it was reborn as a ‘twin' to the world's first book village, Hay-on-Wye in Wales.

The event would not have happened without Noël Anselot, a former journalist who went on to work in the oil industry. He later bought a large house in Redu for his large family, and from the start was active in community affairs.

An avid reader and collector of books, he also found time in Redu to pen a number of tomes include an Ardennes cookbook and the best-selling Ces Belges Qui Ont Fait La France.

In 1978, Anselot visited Hay-on-Wye in Wales, the world's first official book village, where he met town founder and bookseller Richard Booth, who coincidentally had just acquired a vast library just 25 miles from Redu. The two men became fast friends.

Not surprisingly, the collection was of immense interest to Anselot, who details the account in a new book about Redu published in April 2004 for the town's 20th anniversary as a book village.

Anselot bought much of the collection, which Booth transported by truck back to Redu later that year. During the visit, he and Anselot talked about starting a Belgian book village, though Booth's original thought was to set it up in Condroz, where he had purchased the library.

With those plans temporarily on hold, Anselot set up Redu's first bookshop in 1980 in a converted snail farm. At that time it wasn't open to the public but sold only to collectors and other specialists living in Belgium and abroad.

A town is reborn

In 1984, Anselot invited renowned Brussels based television and radio producer Gérard Valet to spend a weekend in Redu.

Valet devoted one of his programmes to Ces Belges Ont Fait la France, and in gratitude Anselot showed him his shop.

Everyone here is book mad

It was decided to host a twinning ceremony for the two villages on Easter weekend 1984, leaving just six weeks to alert the media, contact hundreds of potential amateurs booksellers, organize a massive publicity campaign and secure space to set up the shops – in unused stables, barns and schoolrooms.

The effort was a success, and that weekend, some 15,000 visitors came to Redu to buy books. Several of the booksellers and craftspersons who came just for the weekend ended up staying for good.

The organisers combined the twinning celebration with Europe's first 'space film' festival, in honor of the European Space Agency satellite station also based in Redu.

Redu, which had gone into decline after the industrial revolution and the second World War, was reborn. Meanwhile about a dozen other book villages have sprung up in France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and even Malaysia.

Redu today

Today, Redu is the place to come in Belgium for rare and used books, though visitors should remember to bring cash as there is no bank and many of the merchants take cash only.

Many of the booksellers are collectors themselves who have set up shop out of their love for books.

Most of them sell volumes in different languages – French, German, Dutch – though finding something is generally a hit or miss affair.

Start by visiting the tourist office for a handy map listing all the bookshops and other establishments in town; the numbers on the buildings conveniently correspond to the numbers on the map.

It would be impossible to say what you can find where, as the best part of the experience is wandering into shops and browsing around. Some stores are, of course, better organised than others, though the randomness is often part of the fun.

What a treat to chance upon a World War II aircraft identification guide or a book inscribed to a loved one long ago!

Your best bet for English-language books is De Églkantier & Krazy Castle, whose whole top floor is devoted to them.

Besides Marine, there are also various speciality shops, such as the Librarie Scriptoria which sells books on science, nature and medicine, La Malle aux BD specializing in comic books and the Librarie Ardennaise which has lots of old books on Belgian regions and other subjects in amazingly good condition – a sign reminds clients to handle books with care -- and a tiny printing museum open by appointment only.

Fahrenheit 451 has an impressive selection of detective novels and a back room full of old vinyl records.

Many of the entrepreneur booksellers admit there's healthy competition among them, though there does appear to be some resentment at least below the surface against out-of-town sellers such as Brussels-based Zoldeur sachant Soldeur which uses the musty La Halle aux Livres in Redu as a place to liquidate its stock.

This is a good place to find travel guides for Belgium, misprinted books and out-of-date calendars if you're so inclined.

One of the more pleasant general bookstores is the Bouquinerie de l'Escargon, run by the loquacious Philippe Evrard for the past dozen years or so.

Evrard, a former taxi driver and waiter who says he came to Redu from ‘for love,' also clearly loves what he does.

Like many of his fellow booksellers he's an avid reader and collector himself and often sits down in a cluster of easy chairs in his store with friends to talk books.

The adjoining restaurant next door, which he and his wife own, now only serves meals for friends who call ahead of time; a real pity, as the menu posted outside looks interesting.

Evrard doesn't think it would be as easy nowadays for a newcomer to set up shop in Redu, given that rents have vastly increased, due in large part to the influx of city folk purchasing secondary residences here.

Evrard also says there are advantages and disadvantages to living here. On the plus side he enjoys the independence and turning a lifelong passion into a living, but on the minus side he says that there's still very much a small-town mentality.

But those who have chosen to live here seem to take the inconveniences of small-town life in their collective stride.

Luyckx explains that the fishmonger comes once every two weeks, the post office is open an hour a day, the butcher twice a week, but she says you get used to it.

Those who have cars can drive to the nearest down 7 kilometres away to do banking and grocery shopping.

Since the book village was founded a number of stores have disappeared as owners have moved or retired such as Anselot, who closed his shop in 1988 though he remained a resident.

As for his journalist friend Valet, his plans to set up a shop never materialised.

Although he purchased a bit of land years ago with the intention of opening a bookstore, he eventually abandoned the idea.

“I'm not a merchant,” Valet admits in an interview in his office at public service broadcaster RTBF, where he now works part-time.

Still, he says he's proud to have played a part in turning Redu into a book village.

Asked how Hay-on-Wye is different from Redu, he merely says, “It's English.”

Besides book shops there Redu also boasts a number of other 'artisanal' shops including a place where visitors can sell or purchase home produced fruit and jam, a boutique selling hand-made soaps and comfy quilts and even an artisinal bakery.

But it is reading matter that this place is really all about.

Anyone who loves books should definitely not leave Belgium without a visit to this unique town. If you're not in the market to buy, why not drop by any of the shops with your old books rather than throw them out.

You may just make someone else's day.

More information

Tourist office of the Haute-Lesse region, Place de l'Espro, Redu.
Tel. 061 65 66 99
www.haute-lessse-tourisme.be. Alsoe wee www.redu.info

Redu, Un Village à Livres Ouvert, by Nöel Anselot, 265 pages, retails at FNAC for EUR 19.

Updated April 2005

Flowerpot photo © Renee Cordes.

[Copyright Expatica 2004]

Subject: Belgium, books, excursions