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30 Gorgeous and Innovative Bookshelves

This week, we read a short article over at NPR about Bookshelf, a blog-turned-book by Alex Johnson about — you guessed it — the bookshelf in all its glory. It’s no secret that we’re suckers for a little book-related design here at Flavorpill, so we took the occasion of the book’s publication as an excuse to round up thirty gorgeous, innovative, and otherwise amazing bookshelves and bookcases for all your book display needs. Some of them are even available to purchase, but even if the one you like best isn’t for sale, we daresay you’ll get some decorating ideas — or at least a yen to pick up your favorite novel. Click through to check out our gallery, and let us know which bookshelf you’re dying to cram all your paperbacks onto in the comments.

Rome Exhibit Reveals Vatican Secret Archives

Some documents in the Vatican Secret Archives have only been viewed by a few individuals outside the Vatican.

However, the public will now have the opportunity to look at more than 100 original documents.

Lux in Arcana (Light in Mysterious Places): The Vatican Secret Archives Reveals Itself will be on display through Sept. 9 at the   Capitoline Museum in Rome. Opening March 1, the exhibit was created to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Secret Archives.

Created in 1612 by Pope Paul V, the archives are the central repository of the Holy See and contain all of the deeds and documents pertaining to the government of the universal Church. Closed to the outside world until 1881, Pope Leo XIII first opened them to academics.

The Secret Archives hold some 35,000 documents on 52 miles of shelves. Some of the documents date back to the eighth century. Typically, only professional scholars are allowed access to the collection. Approximately 1,500 researchers visit the archives annually.

“They are revealed as a cultural context, as a fascinating appeal to the memory of our past, the past of the Church, of empires, kingdoms, duchies and republics,” said Cardinal Raffaele Farina, archivist and librarian.