City-dwellers will know, though, that finding head space in London is easier ... display around you. The Reading Room on level 2 of Wellcome Collection is a hybrid of library and museum.

Explore these breathtaking literary spaces, from the State Library Victoria in Australia to Powell’s Books in Oregon.

the Library Building was written up in architectural magazines which described the room in glowing detail: All is movement in the slope of the wall and undulating ceiling [of the Reading Room].