Paris
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Flexible hours, being your individual boss, contemporary air and views of Notre Dame – it’s a job with a lot going for it. Paris’ bouquinistes have been a fixture alongside the banks of the Seine for some 500 years and are decided to maintain their occupation alive.
“It’s my life, it’s not just a job,” 76-year-old Sylvia Brui, who’s been promoting historical books for eight years on Quai de Conti, advised NCS. “We sell things that we love.”
The historical past of Paris’ world-famous book retailers dates again to 1550, when a dozen avenue distributors arrange store on the Île de la Cité, in the coronary heart of the French capital. The commerce took off with the development of the Pont Neuf in 1606, the first bridge with out buildings atop, providing a huge area for brand new distributors of transportable wares.
By the early 1900s, the metropolis standardized the iconic look of the stalls: sellers labored out of steel bins painted the identical “wagon green” shade, and their open lids had been designed to protect the riverbank views. Today, round 230 booksellers stretch alongside roughly three kilometers of the Seine, providing vintage and modern books, engravings, stamps and magazines.
It’s a distinctive setting to understand the written phrase: a skyline of historic stone buildings frames this open-air bookshop.
Booksellers pay no tax or lease however should adjust to strict rules. Vacant spots are allotted and controlled by the City of Paris by way of a devoted committee. Candidates should apply with a resume and a cowl letter explaining their plans.
“You must show your commitment to books,” Jérôme Callais, president of the Association Culturelle des Bouquinistes de Paris, advised NCS. Twelve new booksellers had been appointed in October 2025.
Each occupancy allow is granted for 5 years. Booksellers should open their stalls no less than 4 days a week, besides in dangerous climate. They are allowed to promote outdated books, second-hand books, outdated papers and engravings. They might add a small choice of different objects – like cash, medals, outdated stamps and postcards – so long as they don’t exceed the contents of a single field.
“You need to have experience, to be knowledgeable,” Callais stated, “It’s not surprising that the majority of booksellers are over 50, about 80% of them.”
Among that older cohort is new bouquiniste Ozan Yigitkeskin, who plans to supply a choice of multilingual books. He determined to arrange store on the quays at the age of 52 after working as an internet book vendor. “My first job was selling books by bicycle in Istanbul at the age of 15. I’ve also been a typist and a journalist, and I’m still passionate about books.”
Yigitkeskin is aware of how fragile small bookshops could be, continually struggling to cowl their lease – a drawback he boasts he received’t have as a bouquiniste.
Six years in the past, 35-year-old Camille Goudeau opened her personal stall specializing in science fiction and fantasy on Quai de l’Hôtel de Ville, after spending years working for different booksellers.
“I deal in inexpensive second-hand books to encourage people who don’t read, or read very little, or have stopped reading, to read again,” she advised NCS.
“I had a 30-year-old woman like that, she didn’t dare go into a bookstore,” fellow bookseller Sylvia Brui chipped in. “She bought her first book here: ‘The Old Man and the Sea.’ Later, she read Joyce. Now she goes to bookstores.”
Polling from IPSOS/CNL suggests French readers have been shopping for extra second-hand books over the previous decade, with these aged 25 to 34 studying the most books per 12 months on common.
Working outside: freedom and human connection
Booksellers work outside all 12 months spherical, usually with nothing greater than a folding chair for consolation and a tiny desk serving as each desk and counter. Why select this life over the consolation of working in a store?
“I don’t like being stuck indoors, and I find it hard to work for someone else; being a bookseller allows me to be completely independent,” bouquiniste Camille Goudeau defined to NCS.
“It’s a very direct way of connecting with people,” Goudeau added. The stalls are “a refuge for some people for whom it’s their daily walk, their only daily interaction.”
Such moments of human connection make all the distinction, stated Claire Leriche, a bookseller for 15 years. “When people buy three postcards and I show them the stamp, explaining it was sent in 1904, they are happy because there is a little story that goes with it.”
Laura Contreras, 26, a literature scholar researching Simone de Beauvoir’s letters, involves the quays usually, principally to purchase philosophical works and essays. “There’s historic value; each item has its own story,” she stated.
Marie-Samuelle Klein, 23, additionally comes usually. “I love it because you always find gems,” she stated. “I like books when they’re old, their smell. There’s something symbolic about it, knowing that many people have read it before me.”
Confronted by change – whether or not or not it’s e-books or on-line booksellers – the bouquinistes are decided to outlive.
“It’s up to us to make people come,” stated Jérôme Callais, “Here there is eye-to-eye communication between human beings. We provide an oasis of humanity and culture.”
The most up-to-date risk got here from surprising quarters: the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The bouquinistes needed to battle displacement earlier than the Games’ spectacular opening ceremony was held alongside the Seine. A public outcry helped them preserve their toehold on central Paris.
Every 12 months, individuals say, “Oh my God, it’s terrible, the booksellers are dying out,” Camille Goudeau recounted from the banks of the Seine, “but in fact, we’re still here, and I hope we’ll be here for a long time to come.”