21 Gorgeous Benches That Look Like Books

If you're the kind of person who likes to read outside on benches, you're going to love this project: Britain's National Literacy Trust has installed 50 book-themed BookBenches all over London to celebrate the city's literary heritage. And they're absolutely stunning.

Created by various local artists and professional illustrators for a collaborative project called Books About Town, these colorful benches are made to look like open books. Some are peppered with instantly recognizable scenes from beloved children's stories like Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, and The Jungle Book, and adult classics like Pride and Prejudice and 1984. Other benches pay homage to English authors like Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare and Dr. Seuss, and others are tributes to iconic literary heroes like Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Point, and James Bond.

If you're local and want to seek these out — why wouldn't you? — you can find these scattered sculptures by following one of four literary trails throughout London. The project will extend through the summer, and in October the BookBenches will be auctioned to raise funds for the trust.

But enough about the project — you want to see what the benches look like! Here are 21 gorgeous photos courtesy of Books About Town and other lit fans lucky enough to be in London. After scanning through them, you'll want to hop on the next London-bound flight to seek out these works of literary art.

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Images: @TomYork/twitter; shayneejay/instagram; @BooksAboutTown/twitter; bloomsbury_blooms/instagram; shayneejay/instagram; taleii/instagram; taleii/instagram; @BooksAboutTown/twitter; thomaswyork/instagram; @BooksAboutTown/twitter; @PaulMarks12/twitter; deejparke/instagram; atlanticbooks/instagram; alixeray/instagram; @gooner_del/twitter; @julietchen/twitter; @BooksAboutTown/twitter; @BooksAboutTown/twitter; martina_pix/instagram; chevalresidences/instagram; bloomsbury_books/instagram; hatsa_/instagram