The Cottage Bookshop at Sandbergsteet 2A in Abcoude is an eccentric, tiny, second-hand bookshop, where books of different literary genre are sold. The house where the shop is situated is called The Cottage,and can be recognised by the English telephone booth in its garden. The Cottage  Bookshop can easily  compete for the title  "the smallest antiquarian bookshop of the Netherlands", as it is only twelve square meters in size. Still,its collection  contains more than 3000 books, of  which the large majority are (auto)biographies, both in Dutch and in English. Those who enter the Cottage Bookshop get the impression of entering a living-room. There are a table and a couple of chairs, everything needed  so that books can be inspected at ease.Regularly, tea is served and nostalgic music is played in the background.Following an English example, a small  bookcase is placed outside the shop, the profits  of which are designated  for the  Royal Dutch Foundation of Guide-dogs for the Blind.The Cottage Bookshop is opened on Fridays from 12pm to 6pm and on the first Saturday of the month from 14pm to 16pm. For more information or for making an appointment  at a different time you may contact Carin Kocken, tel. 0294-284508.

Text: Bonda Elzinga, Translation: Rona Grueneberg
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