Bibliophemera

Two apparently different book shops in Paris. Two different women at their windows. One looks in at the books, the other looks out from within the display window where she is arranging books. They are separated in time by twenty years or more, but are united here in this space by their photographs, a display of books, and a little imagination. The top image is a wire photo by Elaine Beery taken from inside the Village Voice Bookstore in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, 1986. I acquired it because of the way the young woman looked at the books on display. There was something deep and thoughtful in her expression frozen in the blink of a camera's shutter. And was that a hint of sadness in her eyes that had nothing to do with the books or just the wistful gaze of a book lover on a restrictive budget? By contrast, the young woman working in the display window, peers out cheerfully. She smiles and seems to enjoy her task. She is surrounded by books. The back of this vernacular photograph indicat...

Bouquinistes are in the news. Read about the Parisian book stall rift on the river Seine in the British newspaper, The Independent . Here's an excerpt: To stroll along the Left Bank close to Notre Dame cathedral used to be to promenade, simultaneously, through one of the most beautiful of all cityscapes and the biggest open-air bookshop in the world. The little book stalls – 235 of them, on both sides of the river – are still there. Some of them remain purely, or largely, bookshops, specialising in old tomes on the cinema, or science, or military history, or the works of Jules Verne. Others have become almost indistinguishable from souvenir stalls, festooned with posters of typical Parisian views in untypical colours or garish reproductions of early 20th-century, metal advertisements for cures for chillblains. After years of neglecting the growing difficulties of the bouquinistes, the Paris Town Hall, which owns the spaces and lets them free of charge, has decided to clamp down. ...