Walking around Paris in search of new tips and places of interest for readers, I realized that I had neglected one of its most classic places, despite the fact that I often take the time to hang around the “bouquinistes” (booksellers of second hand) from the banks of the Seine river.
Stretching for over a mile into the center of Paris with Notre Dame Cathedral as its backdrop, and with the famous narrow streets and restaurants of the Quartier Latin just a stone’s throw away, this has to be at the top of any list of classics. Parisian experiences.
Relics of a bygone era
For me, nothing embodies the essence of Paris better than the bouquinistes on the 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 dealers.
The first bouquinistes appeared in the mid-16th century, when they traded their wares on carts, often surreptitiously as they sold illegal Protestant pamphlets during the Crusades.
However, it was after the French Revolution that the Seine bouquinistes really began to prosper: they had access to entire libraries confiscated from the wealthy, although it was not until the late 19th century that the right was granted to them permanently. they screw their huts into the stone wall of the river banks.
After 1952, the size of the boxes and even their color were officially regulated.
From current publications to priceless antiques
Today you’ll find the stalls of bouquinistes stretching for more than a mile along 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 everything: old prints and engravings, 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 junk.
The stalls themselves essentially consist of boxes bolted to the stone wall of the riverbank, which are locked at night. Although some of their wares today are strictly for tourists, there are still plenty of rare and priceless items for the serious connoisseur.
You never know what you’re going to find while rummaging through bouquinistes’ collections, and if they don’t have what you’re looking for, some even say they will find it for you; it is their trade that keeps treasures in circulation that might otherwise perish.
There is even a well-known anecdote told in Alexander Wollcott’s As Rome Burns, which recounts the time novelist Anne Parrish found a copy of Jack Frost and Other Stories in a bouquiniste. It was her favorite book from her childhood in her days at a Colorado Springs daycare, but she hadn’t gotten to see a copy until then. The story goes that when she showed her husband her find, he opened it to find inscribed on the flyleaf, “Anne Parrish, 209 N. Weber Street, Colorado Springs.”
Today, the bouquinistes de la Seine number around 250, and their trade 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 box is allowed. out of four. contain “memories” – the rest must be literary material.
Interview with a bookseller
Some of the booksellers are talkative, others less so, 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 of the Quais.
Smoking a mini Dominican cigar and flipping through an old copy 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 everyone who passes his stall. “There are no set hours,” he tells me, “and I’m not afraid of hot or cold. I love to read, I’m talkative, and I’m curious. So this is perfect for me.”
At Ferlich, the definition of “old” seems a bit different than the average bookseller. I see him leafing 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 gilt lettering by authors like Gustave Flaubert and Emile Zola.
Unfortunately, Ferlich is about to retire. Once he is gone, it will be up to the City to decide who gets his place. “They have a waiting list of a hundred or two hundred people waiting to do this,” he tells her.
An endangered species?
Like the Panda, Booksellers are an endangered breed. For one thing, the underground tour bus parking lot under the Carousel, next to the Louvre, has greatly reduced foot traffic along the Quais.
Then there is the Internet, the biggest bookstore that no one can compete with, encroaching on their income. This has forced some of the 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 hunting as much as the “pedigree” of the book, bouquinistes will always be irreplaceable, so don’t forget to visit us and keep one of Paris’s oldest heritage alive (and for free). of tawdry tourist trinkets).