Earlier this year, the well-known antiquarian bookshop Schuhmacher on the Geldersekade in Amsterdam closed its doors after the passing of its owner, Wilma Schuhmacher (97). For decades, her six-floor sanctuary housed nearly every first edition of 20th-century Dutch literature — a place where time seemed to rest among 100,000 books. By chance, I was allowed to wander through the almost-empty rooms with my camera, after the books had been moved to new homes — among them the Royal Library and the Embassy of the Free Mind Museum. Even emptied, the space still carried her spirit. I could feel Wilma there — quiet, devoted, eternal among the echoes of her life’s work. Soon, a new shop will open at Keizersgracht 123, offering a glimpse of her extraordinary collection. https://embassyofthefreemind.com/en/library/about-the-library