New England independent bookstores

5. Schoenhof's Foreign Bookshop

Founded in Boston in 1856, Schoenhof's Foreign Bookshop moved to Cambridge in the 1940s, where from the Harvard Square basement of the famed Spee Club it still carries about 30,000 books in over 700 languages. The language learning section is a wonder of diversity representing familiar languages as well as more obscure tongues from the Indian subcontinent and aboriginal Australia. Typical of the staff, longtime employee Dean Hunt speaks at least seven languages. ‘‘I’m never bored,’’ he says.

76A Mount Auburn St., Cambridge, 617-547-8855, www.schoenhofs.com. Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday till 6.

(Text and photo by Jonathan Levitt for the Boston Globe)
5. Schoenhof's Foreign Bookshop Founded in Boston in 1856, Schoenhof's Foreign Bookshop moved to Cambridge in the 1940s, where from the Harvard Square basement of the famed Spee Club it still carries about 30,000 books in over 700 languages. The language learning section is a wonder of diversity representing familiar languages as well as more obscure tongues from the Indian subcontinent and aboriginal Australia. Typical of the staff, longtime employee Dean Hunt speaks at least seven languages. ‘‘I’m never bored,’’ he says. 76A Mount Auburn St., Cambridge, 617-547-8855, www.schoenhofs.com . Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday till 6. DISCUSS Your favorite independent bookstores? PLAN New England travel guide