Photographer Valerie Jardin recently visited Stillwater, Minnesota, “The First Book Town in North America”, and sent us this marvelous photo essay. You can see more of Valerie’s fine work on her website or her blog. 

Historic Stillwater

Located less than 30 minutes from Minneapolis-St. Paul, on the banks of the St.Croix River, historic Stillwater, Minnesota was officially designated the “First Book Town in North America” by the notorious Richard Booth of Hay-on-Wye in August, 1994. Although the town has only five book stores remaining, there are more than 500,000 antiquarian and secondhand books available for sale. Loome Theological Booksellers (North America’s largest specialist in Theology, Philosophy and Religion) alone has 250,000 titles.

You can learn more about Stillwater Book Town at the website