Cyclops Books

Libri is a bookstore located in New Rome.

Description
The Libri is a quaint-looking bookstore with a green awning painted the word LIBRI. Racks of used hardcovers were set out on the sidewalk for browsing. Inside the shop, Aristophanes sunned itself atop a stack of dictionaries. From the cashier's/information desk at the center of the room, freestanding shelves radiated in all directions, crammed with tomes of every size and shape. Two ladders led to a railed balcony, also wall-to-wall books. Overstuffed reading chairs filled every available corner. Huge windows offered views of the city aqueduct and the hills beyond. The sunlight streamed in like warm honey, making the shop feel comfortable and drowsy. There was no visual tattoo-parlor equipment, but against the back wall, under a sign that read SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, a set of thick velvet curtains seemed to provide access to a back room. The special-collections room has rolling bookshelves pushed aside, heaped with leather bound volumes, wooden scroll cases, and clay cuneiform tablets. Dominating the center of the room, a black leather reclining chair with foldable arms gleamed under an LED magnifying lamp. At its side stood a workstation with four humming electric-steel needle guns connected to ink hoses. In the back corner, a ladder lead to a second-level balcony similar to the one in the main room. Two sleeping areas had been created up there: Ella's harpy nest of straw, cloth and shredded paper; and a sort of cardboard fort made of old appliance boxes.