here i dreamt of quill pens and stamped beeswax

                                    * shot with an old Polaroid SX-70 with expired 600 film

I spent a day and a half in this intimate bookstore while in Paris. It was one of my most anticipated and relished experiences. This bohemian haven has a vivid history and multitudinous shelves lined with new and used books side by side. Most are in English though I did pick up a paperback of Colette's Duo in French to amble through over time. I sat in the lending library upstairs with an ancient copy of Leaves of Grass in a worn tobacco hued leather chair while the bells of Notre Dame chimed over the street and through the open window. After a bit I'd take a break and walk to the cafe around the corner for a cappuccino, an omelette au fromage (with dijon mustard) and salade verte. Then I'd return and peruse the half price books in open steamer trunks and old suitcases on the sidewalk in front of the store, carefully deciding which to take to the cashier to be hand stamped with their insignia and added to my own modest library far away.

The Bookshop has a thousand books,

All colors, hues and tinges,

And every cover is a door

That turns on magic hinges.

-Nancy Byrd Turner

Comments

[Elizabeth]

Oh! What a place to spend time!

I love bookstores. If I could imagine my idea of heaven, it would be street after street full of bookstores, full of old and new books, with great little outdoor/indoor cafes that you could pop into between visits. Oh! Also, you could take the books to the cafes and read them, much like taking them to the inside-the-bookstore coffee shop, if they have one. Oh! Also, lots of comfy couches and even a hammock or two inside the bookstores. Also the occasional bookstore with a friendly store dog to sit beside you while you read. *happy sigh*

[Brittany]

i'm glad i wasn't there with you because i probably would have squealed and we probably would have been kicked out. my love for books and their atmospheric locations knows NO bounds. thanks for sharing. :)

[lovely and imperfect]

elizabeth ~ yes! and a bookstore with a garden, i'd really love that too.

brittany ~ i was completely trying not to squeal but i think i actually may have. ;)

[liz]

goodness this sounds like a dream.
love.

[Tracie]

Sounds like heaven!