Walking around Paris in search of new tips and hot spots for readers, I realized that I had neglected one of its more classic locations, even though I often take the time to hang around the “bouquinistes” (second-rate bookstores hand) from the banks of the River Seine.
Stretching for over a mile in central Paris with the Notre Dame Cathedral as a backdrop, and with the famous narrow streets and restaurants of the Quartier Latin a stone’s throw away, this has to be at the top of any list of classics. . Parisian experiences.
Relics of a bygone age
For me, nothing embodies the essence of Paris more than the bouquinistes del Seine, which have been “part of the furniture” for hundreds of years. They are completely unique to Paris – I know of no other city in the world that can boast such a variety of book merchants.
The first bouquinistes appeared as early as the middle of the 16th century, when they traded their wares in carts, most of the time surreptitiously, as they sold illegal Protestant pamphlets during the Crusades.
However, it was after the French Revolution that the bouquinistes of the Seine really began to prosper: they had access to entire libraries confiscated from the wealthy, although it was not until the late 19th century that they were granted the right to remain to screw their boxes into the stone wall on the banks of the river.
After 1952, the size of the boxes and even their color were officially regulated.
From current publications to priceless antiques
Today you will find stalls of bouquinistes stretching for more than a mile on both sides of the Seine around the Ile de la Cite, from the Pont Marie to the Quai du Louvre on the right, and from the Quai de la Tournelle to the Quai Malaquais on the left.
In this idyllic setting and with Notre Dame as a backdrop, you can unearth all kinds: antique prints and prints, old issues of Paris Match (a major national news magazine), maps, old books, very old books, rare books, comics . books, posters, postcards, souvenirs and other rarities.
The stalls themselves essentially consist of boxes bolted to the stone wall on the riverside, which are locked at night. Although some of their products today are strictly for tourists, there are still many rare and priceless items for the serious connoisseur.
You never know what you’ll come across while browsing the bouquinistes collections, and if they don’t have what you want, some even say they’ll find it for you; it is their commerce that keeps treasures in circulation that might otherwise perish.
There is even a well-known anecdote told in Alexander Wollcott’s While Rome Burns, recounting the moment when novelist Anne Parrish found a copy of Jack Frost and other stories in a bouquiniste. It was her favorite childhood book from her Colorado Springs daycare days, but she hadn’t managed to see a copy before. The story goes that when she showed her find to her husband, he opened it and found inscribed on the sheet, “Anne Parrish, 209 N. Weber Street, Colorado Springs.”
Today, the bouquinistes del Seine number around 250, and their commerce is well regulated: they must be open to the public a minimum of four days a week, regardless of weather or foot traffic, and no more than one is allowed. box of every four. they contain “memories” – the rest must be literary material.
Interview with a bookstore
Some of the booksellers are charlatans, others less, but I always manage to land on one who likes to move his chin as much as I do. I was lucky enough to strike up a conversation with Allain Ferlich, 64, a 30-year veteran at the Quais.
Smoking a mini Dominican cigar and flipping through an old issue of La Gazette (the first weekly magazine printed in France, back in the 17th century) as if it were this week’s Paris Match, he seems to know all the other people passing by. . “There are no fixed hours,” he tells me, “and I’m not afraid of hot or cold. I love reading, I’m talkative, and I’m curious. So this is perfect for me.”
Chez Ferlich, the definition of “old” seems a little different than the average bookseller. I see him flipping through a book printed in 1943 that doesn’t even make the cut. Most of his books are works of art in themselves: beautiful leather-bound volumes with gold lettering, written by authors such as Gustave Flaubert and Emile Zola.
Unfortunately, Ferlich is about to retire. Once he’s gone, it will be up to the city to decide who gets his spot. “They have a waiting list of a hundred or two hundred people waiting to do this,” he tells me.
An endangered species?
Like the Panda, booksellers are an endangered breed. On the one hand, the underground tourist bus parking under the carousel, next to the Louvre, has considerably reduced foot traffic along the quays.
Then there is the Internet, the largest bookstore that no one can compete with, invading your income. This has forced some booksellers to turn to the more profitable sale of tourist souvenirs, miniatures and trinkets.
But for those who are passionate about books and who value both hunting and the “pedigree” of the book, bouquinistes will always be irreplaceable, so don’t forget to stop by and keep alive (and for free) one of the oldest pieces of heritage in Paris. of tacky tourist trinkets).
