Paris bookshops are not official tourist attractions. To me they are something better: small shelters scattered across the city, timeless places that tell the story of a different Paris, its neighbourhoods and its people.
I lived in Paris, and I used to spend whole Saturday mornings going in and out of these doors. Even now, whenever I come back chez moi, walking this itinerary of bookshops feels like a ritual. It is the twin of my literary London wanderings, the two great reading cities of my life, and if I am honest, the bookshops are half the reason I keep returning to both.
Here are my favourites, in no particular order. At the end you will find a map, so you can plan your own route around the neighbourhoods you are visiting.
The oldest bookshops in Paris
Delamain
The oldest bookshop in Paris, founded in 1708 and owned since 1986 by Gallimard. To me it is a genuine historical monument, facing the entrance of the Comédie-Française, a stone’s throw from the Palais Royal and the Garnier opera house. Inside are wooden shelves, sliding ladders to reach the upper shelves, and an alcove of old editions that make you dream. History, literature, theatre, poetry: an Ali Baba’s cave of French culture.
155 rue Saint-Honoré, metro Palais Royal
Jousseaume
One of my favourites, perhaps because it was the first one I fell for, right after I moved to Paris, when I used to cross the Galerie Vivienne between the cubbyhole I called home and the school in Avenue de l’Opéra where I was doing my Master’s. Founded in 1826, it still has its dark, slightly dusty shelves and windows, full of old bound books and editions you will not find anywhere else.
Galerie Vivienne, between rue Vivienne and rue des Petits Champs, metro Bourse, Palais Royal or Richelieu Drouot
Leymarie
Founded in 1858 by Allan Kardec, the father and theorist of Spiritism, and still run by a descendant, Pierre-Gaëtan Leymarie, this is a slightly esoteric place. Alongside Kardec’s own texts you can find books on secret societies, magic, divination and esotericism of every kind. I came away with some historical texts on witchcraft and tarot, a great passion of a dear friend, a wonderful musician in the Paris Opera orchestra with a gift for introspection.
42 rue Saint-Jacques, metro Cluny La Sorbonne
Libre Pensée
A curious place: both a bookshop and the seat of the Fédération Nationale de la Libre Pensée, founded in 1911, a freethought movement in favour of secularism. Its slogan is “Ni Dieu ni maître, à bas la calotte et vive la sociale”, and it is beloved of anarchists, activists and free thinkers. You will find history and politics, essays on economic policy, and La Libre Pensée, the federation’s own magazine.
10 rue des Fossés-Saint-Jacques, metro Luxembourg
Le Divan
Founded in 1921 by Henri Martineau between rue Bonaparte and the abbey. In the early 1990s a Dior boutique pushed the bookshop out of its original spot, but it did not close: it simply moved a little further off, provoking such fury among the neighbourhood’s intellectuals that they did nothing but boost its fame. A proper neighbourhood bookshop, ranging from essays to literature to children’s books to the philosophical and artistic postcards I can never resist. A quiet place I love.
203 rue de la Convention, metro Convention
Gibert Joseph
The most famous and the flashiest, and for that reason not quite my favourite, because it is noisy and always crowded. It was founded on the Quai Saint-Michel by Joseph Gibert, a professor of letters who wanted a place devoted to school texts of every kind and level. Thanks to its constant turnover of second-hand books, it is probably the best-stocked bookshop in Paris, with board games, maps, travel guides and comics too. It now has several branches around the city.
26 boulevard Saint-Michel, metro Saint-Michel
The most fashionable bookshops in Paris
Librairie des Abbesses
One of my favourites. It is run with love and real expertise by Marie-Rose Guarnieri, a great reader who devours books and knows exactly how to recommend them. Excellent art books, too.
30 rue Yvonne-Le-Tac, metro Abbesses
La Librairie Gourmande
Founded in 1985 and given over entirely to food: from diet books to great recipe collections, from the latest culinary trends to sommelier guides.
92 rue Montmartre, metro Sentier
Librairie Michèle Ignazi
A small independent bookshop in the Saint-Paul quarter, frequented by intellectuals of various kinds, offering belles-lettres, philosophy, psychology, essays on psychoanalysis, history, structuralism, literary studies, and everything to do with human thought.
17 rue de Jouy, metro Saint-Paul
Librairie OFR
A very trendy Marais bookshop, a genuine reference for fashion, design, photography and architecture, with a fantastic selection of international magazines. Downstairs there are exhibitions and private views by fashionable artists.
20 rue Dupetit-Thouars, metro Temple
La Belle Hortense
Also in the heart of the Marais, a bookshop with a wine cellar and a lovely wine bar: a refuge from the neighbourhood’s chaos, where you can leaf through a book over a good glass of Burgundy, perhaps swapping literary tips with the person next to you. I adore this place.
31 rue Vieille du Temple, metro Saint-Paul or Hôtel de Ville
Le Merle Moqueur
A beautiful bookshop on the slopes of Ménilmontant, named after Le Temps des cerises, the song made famous by Yves Montand among others. They sell everything: maps, travel guides, children’s and teenage books, literature, essays, art books, and titles that tell the story of the neighbourhood. Their reading groups are worth trying if you happen to be staying in Paris for a few weeks.
51 rue de Bagnolet, metro Alexandre Dumas
Un Regard Moderne
Jacques Noël has run this shop since the early 1990s, and chaos reigns: books stacked floor to ceiling and everywhere in between. But they have everything, and Jacques knows where all of it is. My Peanuts collection and my Giardino comics both came out of this glorious bookish confusion.
10 rue Gît-le-Cœur, metro Saint-Michel
Les Mots à la Bouche
A landmark LGBT bookshop, long a fixture of the Marais and now on rue Saint-Ambroise, open late, and an inexhaustible source of themed writing, poetry and art.
Check the current address before visiting, as it has moved from its old rue Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie home
L’Amour du Noir
A true paradise for crime fiction, science fiction and cinema lovers. In French, crime novels are romans noirs, the “black books”, which is where the name comes from.
11 rue du Cardinal Lemoine, metro Cardinal Lemoine
Artazart
I used to go almost daily, because it was right in front of my home on the Canal Saint-Martin. Open every day since 2000, it offers a wonderful selection of photography and art books, plus irresistible design objects and accessories.
83 quai de Valmy, metro République
L’Écume des Pages
The bookshop of the night owls, or, in my case, of the person choosing a birthday present about ninety seconds before arriving at the party, or picking a good book to bring to dinner instead of, or alongside, a good bottle of wine. Open every day until midnight, right next to the famous Café de Flore.
174 boulevard Saint-Germain, metro Saint-Germain-des-Prés
The most touristy bookshops in Paris
Galignani
The first English-language bookshop founded on the continent, and one of the largest and most elegant, with genuine antiques and fittings worthy of an art collection. You can find anything on its shelves and meet anyone, from students to French and international stars living in Paris. I went every week when I lived there, and I still go back whenever I am in town. On the night of the last Harry Potter release, I was queuing along the Tuileries before opening.
224 rue de Rivoli, metro Concorde
Shakespeare and Company
The most iconic bookshop in Paris, specialising in English-language literature. You will have seen it in countless films, most famously Midnight in Paris, because it is wonderfully photogenic. Books run from floor to ceiling, everywhere, and it is pure magic. Less magical when you have to clean it, which I can tell you from experience, because that was my very first Parisian job.
37 rue de la Bûcherie, metro Saint-Michel or Cluny La Sorbonne
Plan your own route
The map below plots them all. But honestly, in Paris there is a bookshop every few hundred metres, so if books are your passion, do not stop at my list. Wander off it. That is the whole point of the city.
Bon voyage, et bonne lecture.
Further reading
- Literary London, the companion to this piece, my other great reading city
- Where to stay in Paris, by someone who lived there
- Paris on the 14th of July
FAQ
What is the oldest bookshop in Paris? Delamain, founded in 1708, is the oldest bookshop in Paris. It stands on rue Saint-Honoré facing the Comédie-Française, near the Palais Royal, has been owned by Gallimard since 1986, and keeps a section of rare and second-hand editions alongside new books, in a beautiful wood-panelled interior with sliding ladders.
What is the most famous bookshop in Paris? Shakespeare and Company, on the Left Bank opposite Notre-Dame, is the most famous, known for its floor-to-ceiling English-language books and its appearances in films such as Midnight in Paris. Galignani on rue de Rivoli, the first English-language bookshop founded on the European continent, is another landmark.
Are there English-language bookshops in Paris? Yes. Shakespeare and Company specialises in English-language literature, and Galignani on rue de Rivoli was the first English-language bookshop on the continent and keeps a large English section. Many independent Paris bookshops also carry some English titles, though most stock is in French.
Which Paris bookshops are worth visiting for book lovers? Beyond the famous Shakespeare and Company, seek out Delamain by the Palais Royal, the dusty antiquarian Jousseaume in the Galerie Vivienne, La Belle Hortense in the Marais which is a bookshop and wine bar, Artazart for photography by the Canal Saint-Martin, and L’Écume des Pages near the Café de Flore, open until midnight. Paris has an independent bookshop every few hundred metres, so wandering is rewarded.
Where can you buy books late at night in Paris? L’Écume des Pages on boulevard Saint-Germain, next to the Café de Flore, is open every day until midnight, making it the classic choice for a late book purchase. La Belle Hortense in the Marais combines a bookshop with a wine bar and also keeps late hours.
