In this hidden corner of Santes Creus, in the Alt Camp, a few meters from the 12th century Cistercian monastery, 10 cats, 4 dogs and 5 swallow nests live on top of its high roofs. Its habitat: some 15,000 second-hand books that tell all kinds of stories from the world.
This particular bookstore that receives the appropriate name of Llibreria Amagada (hidden bookstore, in Spanish) houses everything from adventure novels to self-help books, including philosophy and cooking manuals, maps, paintings… “Everything you need to lose, or win, one morning”, as Narcís Serrat has shared with this series of photographs in Las Fotos de los Lectores de La Vanguardia.
The man behind these shelves packed to the brim with books is Joan Ignasi Sandoval, a bookseller par excellence and a farmer by vocation.
At 67, he is still in charge of maintaining this temple of paper that he founded more than 25 years ago, despite the serious health problems that he has suffered since childhood. From a very young age, he found in literature a refuge to completely new and distant worlds.
Working in the fields has been his other great passion and, for years, he combined it tending to his crops during the week and selling books in the Sant Antoni market in Barcelona on Sundays. He also went to world book fairs where, he recalls, radio and television looked for him and he was nicknamed the professor because of his wisdom on the subject.
He ended up opening a bookstore in Barcelona’s Barri Gòtic where, he says, “it was the best bookseller in the world” due to the exceptional quality material that it housed in its aisles.
“A couple of those (books) that I had would be worth more than what I have now in the bookstore,” he says. Among his great treasures, he recalls a lectionary of Saint Geronimo from the 14th century.
With his quarantine over, he broke with his life as a renowned bookseller and returned to the land where he grew up in search of a quieter life. Here, in Santes Creus, he opened the bookstore in a garage that he had received as an inheritance. The name, he says, was given to him by people over time, and he only made it his own.
Now, Joan Ignasi Sandoval has “the best bookstore in the world,” he says, which many curious people come to, even “who have never read a book in their lives.” It has become another tourist attraction in this area rich in historical heritage.
Every week, he receives packages of books and other stationery derivatives that are sent to him. It’s been four years since he bought a single copy, more than on a few occasions. This is the most exciting moment of his work, he says, because of the novelty and the uncertainty of not knowing what he will find in those old boxes.
The other part is to give them a second life, by repairing them as much as possible. “They (the books) appreciate it, and so do I. You save one from burning, because if it’s broken, it’s normal for it to end up in the trash,” explains the bookseller.
The Llibreria Amagada is a place where you can always find something. Even if a copy is brought to mind, it would not be the first time that it would appear among its more than 300 meters of shelves. The main claim, says the owner, is a charming place and a good price, because its offer does not exceed 10 euros per book.
If, on the other hand, you want to be surprised, Sandoval will recommend The Island by Aldous Huxley, one by Rudyard Kipling or The Pearl by John Steinbeck. Novels, he says, that always have something beyond. Although he has no preferences, he wants to stand out. He likes everyone and everyone has their place.
