14 Secret Bookcase Doors You Wish You Had In Your House

“Many a book is like a key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self.” ~ Franz Kafka

1. This one in a Parisian bookshop

Via librairieblaizot.blog4ever.com

The secret bookcase door leads to the back staircase at Auguste Blaizot Antiquarian Bookshop in Paris. It was founded in 1840 and is still run by members of the Blaizot family; they specialize in French literature and decorative bindings.

2. A "Wait, there's more!" sliding layers one

Via shkom.com

Aside from space-saving convenience, these are just so darn cool. You could secret away your most valuable tomes on the inner shelves.

Get yours custom made from the Russian design firm ShkoM.

3. A James Bond-like style

Via watsonmills.com

Goofy outdated computer? What goofy outdated computer? All that's here is a bookcase. (Or, fabulous book collection? What fabulous book collection? All that's here is this goofy outdated computer). Get yours from Watson Mills Design.

4. The real "Downton Abbey"

Matt Lloyd / Via dailymail.co.uk

Highclere Castle is the real "Downton Abbey," where a hidden door leads from the library into the Music Room. But wouldn't you automatically guess there's a door there when you hear music on the other side of the door?

5. A public library one you can rotate with your own hands

arhatproblems / Via Flickr: 49159601@N08

The Martin Luther King Jr. Library in San Jose, CA boasts a secret rotating bookcase. One side of the shelf is stocked with faux mystery books, the other side with current popular-fiction titles. It's one of many sculptural features in the library from the public art collection to inspire readers by artist Mel Chin.

Pssssst...it's located in the (Circulating Books Section on the ground floor)

6. This luxurious one you can get built in your home

Creative Home Engineering / Via hiddenpassageway.com

If I had this in my living room, I'd just hang out all day long opening and closing these secret doors. Order yours from Creative Home Engineering.

7. Hidden in this haunted Gothic library

National Trust Images/David Kirkham / Via nationaltrust.org.uk

Here you see a corner of Felbrigg Hall library in Norwich. The spectre of former resident William Windham III is said to appear in this dark and shadowy Gothic library. He's been spotted standing by a table when his favorite volumes were laid out.

You can visit Felbrigg Hall Library in Norwich and try to glimpse the secret bookcase door (and possibly the apparition of William Windham III) for just a small fee.

8. A Kafkaesque one

Steven Holl Architects / Via stevenholl.com

Oooooh...I'd love to peek behind the rotating hidden door bookcase at the Franz Kafka Society in Prague.

Students and researchers can come to use the library, part of which is tucked behind the rotating bookcase door.

9. This one inside a castle

Simon Brown/Romantic Irish Homes / Via simonbrownphotography.com

A secret bookcase door inside a castle library...(as if a library in a castle was not cool enough without a secret door)! This is the library at Tullynally Castle. It's the private collection of Thomas Pakenham who currently lives there and has opened up the gardens and tearooms to the public.

You can catch a glimpse of his library by appointment.

10. Inside the study of a famous author

Original photo by Roger Vaughan (to which I've cropped and highlighted the door) / Via Flickr: visitkent

This is Charles Dickens' study in Higham, Kent, England where the secret bookcase door is highlighted. Dickens ordered a set of imitation book spines from a London bookbinder, who fabricated mock books with fake titles for the door.

Notable fake titles: The Life of a Cat (in nine volumes) and Jonah’s Account of the Whale.

You can see the secret bookcase door in person by visiting his home called Gad's Hill Place, plus the admission price includes tea and cake!

11. These inside a monastery

Stephan Brunker / Via en.wikipedia.org

Convex secret bookcase door + antique books + monastery environment = awesome. These secret bookcase doors are inside the Stift St. Florian Library in Sankt Florian, Austria.

12. This one also in a monastery

Jorge Royan / Via commons.wikimedia.org

Concave secret bookcase door + antique books + monastery environment = awesome. This secret bookcase door is inside Admont Abbey Library in Admont, Austria. I see a staircase there, I wonder where it leads?

13. A rather obvious yet nonetheless cool one

Leah Marie Brown / Via leahmariebrown.blogspot.com

Here you see the (somewhat) camouflaged door in the private library of Marie-Antoinette at Versailles. (Methinks the lock/door handle give it away).

14. A life-saving one

Allard Bovenberg / Via annefrank.org

Anne Frank wrote in her now famous diary: August 21, 1942: “Now our Secret Annex has truly become secret...Mr. Kugler thought it would be better to have a bookcase built in front of the entrance to our hiding place. It swings out on its hinges and opens like a door."

Pictured is the secret bookcase door (refurbished) which kept safe Anne Frank. Take a virtual tour of the Secret Annex here.