To find a bookshop in your own language in a foreign country is always a joy …and yes, a relief! However, this one has far more going for it than that. It is situated on the left bank of the River Seine in Paris, right opposite Notre Dame Cathedral. It must have had a scarily close up view of the tragic fire that brought down the cathedral spire a few years ago. The shop is a victim of its own success as it is small and cluttered with rickety wooden staircases and I have never visited without it being very crowded. Maybe a grey Monday in January is the answer.
Shakespeare and Co has a fascinating history. It was opened in 1951 by an American called George Whitman. He named the shop after one of the same name that had traded in the vicinity until 1941. It was owned by Sylvia Beach. The two booksellers became friends. The shop sells both new and secondhand books, has an antiquarian section and a free public reading library, above the doors of which it says: ‘Be not inhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise.’
There is also the issue of the ‘tumbleweeds.’ There has been a tradition since the beginning of allowing young, aspiring writers to sleep in the shop building free of charge, in beds tucked between the bookshelves, as long as they offer a couple of hours help each day. Over 30,000 people have been ‘tumbleweeds’ over the last 70 years.
Today the shop is owned and run by Sylvia Whitman, daughter of George Whitman, who named her after Sylvia Beach. Now there is a coffee shop right next door to complement the bookshop, there are writer events and a small festival held in a nearby square.
I shall visit again when the cathedral is fully restored and open to the public.