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Viking Curated Libraries

Learn the story behind our onboard libraries, specially curated by London bookshop Heywood Hill to enrich and enhance your experience both at your destination and on the ship.

Video Transcript

  • It's been said experiences are food for the mind, but it is books that nourish the soul, inspiring the spirit and delighting the imagination.

  • For me, there's nothing more refreshing than opening a book for the first time.

  • It sends you to places you never expected.

  • Really allows you to deepen your understanding of the world and there is perhaps nothing more powerful than a good book.

  • So when it came time to create libraries for Viking, we sought the expertise of London's Heywood Hill, one of the most influential booksellers in the world.

  • Heywood Hill is a small independent bookshop in London, and it was established in 1936 by a man called George Heywood Hill.

  • He was a very passionate bookseller and he really put the shop on the map.

  • Heywood Hill held the distinction of being a Royal Warrant holder, which recognizes those who provide goods and services to the Royal Family.

  • It is Heywood Hill's long standing reputation for intriguing, insightful book selections that appealed to Viking.

  • We create libraries for people.

  • They're usually for individuals, and it's usually around some passion in their lives.

  • So before a single book was chosen, hundreds of hours were spent on board to better understand the unique, inquisitive character of the Viking guests.

  • They were an incredibly eclectic, interesting group of people.

  • Our customers are the same, that group of people who travel the world.

  • They have a very broad outlook and they are curious, inquisitive people who wanted to discover the countries, but also to be stimulated intellectually, wanting to explore in a meaningful way.

  • This is exactly the sort of people who come into our shop all the time.

  • Our ships often have subject specific libraries like legendary explorers or art history.

  • And of course, there's a robust collection of books tailored to the regions you're sailing through.

  • Other areas there are devoted to the sort of things that you want to read when you're on vacation.

  • Novels, novellas.

  • Short stories.

  • Diaries, and then lots of visually interesting books, art books, photography.

  • Things that we think will enhance people's.

  • Stay on on the on the ship.

  • Every Viking vessel sailed with an extraordinarily diverse collection of books, each one hand-selected to pique the curiosity of our guests.

  • The whole ethos of our businesses is personalization.

  • But to make a good selection of books for somewhere like a ship, you need to have the person at the top really appreciating what the purpose of books really is.

  • It's part of our commitment to share the world in a way no one else can.

  • It's wonderful to think of our books.

  • Books that we've chosen individually chosen.

  • Onboard Viking vessels sailing all over the world and giving pleasure to people all over the world as they travel and explore the world.

  • That really gives us all a bit of a thrill, and we hope that the books we've chosen for them will, will really enhance their stay on board at Viking.

  • We recognize that sometimes a tiny thing like the right book can change everything about a destination.

  • This exactly fits with our passion for introducing people to great books.