Why Paris?
History of the Book
Paris has a long literary history. The Sorbonne set up a printing press in 1470 and Paris has been busy creating a lively literary scene ever since. Printers, publishers, bookshops, and libraries have been integral to the cultural identity of the city.
Authors
Paris is a city of writers. Rousseau and Voltaire worked on a French encyclopedia in the first left bank café. Michel De Montaigne originated the essay, or some say even the memoir, in Paris. Romantic Era authors including Hugo, Sand, Dumas, Balzac, Flaubert, and Baudelaire all wrote here. The expat invasion during the interwar years saw the likes of James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein work and live in Paris. Great women authors like Colette, Djuna Barnes, Marguerite Duras, Jean Rhys, and Françoise Sagan helped bring forth a formidable feminist canon. Writers in the resistance during WWII created underground newspapers and pamphlets. The existentialist philosophers Sartre, Beauvoir, Camus, and Beckett made their home among the streets the 7th arrondissment.
Living Literary Landscape
Paris has a thriving literary ecosystem. The Prix Goncourt, France’s version of the National Book Award, continues to usher in and highlight important names in the French literary world. Publishers like Gallimard, Flammarion, and Hachette, who have been around for decades, continue working today to bring new authors to readers. Bookstores are abundant in the city and have a vast array of specialties. And there are still the bouquinistes, the riverfront booksellers along the Seine, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Artisans and creators across the city are finding new ways to experience the book - whether that is a bookstore café on a barge, custom bookplate stamps, or specialty bookbinders.
Sample Itinerary Paris
Day 1: History of the Book in Paris
Day 2: The 1920s and Expats in Paris
Day 2: The 1920s and Expats in Paris
We start with a walking tour at the site of the earliest scribes and parchment sellers. We then visit a rare book expert with a collection of valuable manuscripts and first editions from both French and American writers.
Then we will make our way to the oldest café in Paris for lunch, whose original incarnation welcomed some of the city’s most famous literary figures.
From there we will walk along the Seine with a tour of the Bouquinistes, learning their history and importance to the city of Paris. We will have a private tour of Musee Carnavalet, to cover the rich history of the city.
Dinner on your own.
Day 2: The 1920s and Expats in Paris
Day 2: The 1920s and Expats in Paris
Day 2: The 1920s and Expats in Paris
Paris had in indelible influence on American, English, and Irish literature. We’ll imagine 1920s Paris by touring important addresses of the expats.
Many writers would not have made their careers if it were not for the proprietor of Shakespeare and Company, Sylvia Beach. We will walk by the original and current location and discuss its history and influence of the literary community.
That afternoon we will have tea at the restaurant where Sylvia Beach presented the first printed copy of Ulysses to James Joyce.
Dinner on your own.
or
Optional Outing:
Early evening, we will head out to Bar Hemingway at the Ritz where we will talk about censorship and the freedom that Paris provided for writers.
Day 3: The Art of the Book
Day 2: The 1920s and Expats in Paris
Day 4: WWII and Feminist Writers
We will have an exclusive tour at the offices of a French publisher, where the executive editor will discuss the French book market and the titles she chooses to publish in the United States. We will learn of its storied history and discuss their impressive array of titles.
Lunch on your own.
In the afternoon, we head to a specialty boutique and workshop whose products feature patterns from 17th century book endpapers. They will give us a history of how they started and a demonstration of their creations.
Lastly, we will head to a literary-themed bar in the Marais to receive custom made bookplate stamps from the duo behind Ex Libris Paris.
Dinner on your own.
Day 4: WWII and Feminist Writers
Day 6: A History of Food Writers in Paris
Day 4: WWII and Feminist Writers
During German occupation some writers stayed and continued to work including Sartre, Beauvoir, Duras, and Camus. We will visit the Musée de la Libération de Paris and then walk to lunch at Camus' preferred cafe. Along the way we will point out some of the important locations of underground presses with a fascinating history of the period.
During lunch, we will discuss publisher Gallimard’s role during the occupation as a collaborationist, but also the important works they published during this time and afterward. After, we will visit Galerie Gallimard to peruse some items from their historical archives.
In the afternoon we will delve into the lives of famous women authors in Paris including Marguerite Duras, Colette, Jean Rhys, Anais Nin, and Simone de Beauvoir. We will stop by the bookstore which started the first publishing house in Europe dedicated to women’s writing.
Dinner on your own
or
Optional Outing:
Cafe Laurent, which is the new incarnation of famed bar Tabou, the post-war jazz club frequented by the existentialists.
Day 5: Paris and the Places of the Book
Day 6: A History of Food Writers in Paris
Day 6: A History of Food Writers in Paris
Explore Paris on your own in the morning.
Lunch on your own
In the afternoon we will meet at one of the main branches of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France to discover the gorgeous architecture from Henri Labrouste.
Right next door is the beautiful Galerie Vivienne, a covered passage where we will visit a bookstore that has been there almost 200 years.
From there we will have private tour of Palais Garnier, the setting of the book Phantom of the Opera (and the subsequent musical).
That evening we dine at the restaurant where the Prix Goncourt has been awarded since 1914. We will have a private dinner in the room dedicated for the deliberations of the Academie members. We will discuss the history of the prize and its winners past and present.
Day 6: A History of Food Writers in Paris
Day 6: A History of Food Writers in Paris
Day 6: A History of Food Writers in Paris
So much of our foodie culture is shaped by the food writers who lived and worked in Paris. We will visit Librarie Gourmande, Paris' specialty cookbook shop. Then we walk down Julia Child’s favorite market street and discuss Paris’ role in shaping the world of cookbooks. Then we head to Le Cordon Bleu, where Child enrolled in 1950, for a private cooking lesson and meal with their chefs.
Explore Paris in the afternoon on your own.
Our final gathering together will be dinner, at a place you could call a Paris institution. Colette, Balzac, Hugo, Sartre, Beauvoir, George Sand, and Julia Child all ate here during their time, making it one place that connects the history of literary Paris.