Page 59 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - France

A Bounty of Bookshops
France offers an array of second-hand stalls to
browse, from rare-book specialists to niche book
boutiques. Shakespeare and Company has an
expanded premises and even a new address in the
Left Bank (p132), and remains the city’s most
famous English-language bookshop and a mecca
for writers and literary enthusiasts. Librairie
Maupetit, Marseille's oldest bookshop, hosts
events and work shops for readers of all ages.
In Strasbourg (p220), Librairie Kleber organizes
stimulating salon-style debates between writers,
psychoanalysts, historians and artists.

INSIDER TIP
Book Vendors
Forget fizzy drinks,
vending machines in
France can spit out a
free short story to go.
The first machine was
installed in Grenoble in
2015, but they have now
spread across France.

Plot It Out
Literary tours abound across
France. Trace the plots of novels
and the lives of your favourite
authors, whether that's raising
the ghost of Emma Bovary in Ry,
or seeking out the childhood
home of Colette (p323) in St-
Sauveur-en-Puisaye. Self-guided
tours are ideal on a budget.

Inside the home of the novelist
Colette, now a museum

Cities of the Written Word
There are eight villages de livre (book towns)
scattered across France. These medieval
villages are a hub for bookish pursuits, with
schools for binding restoration, calligraphy and
more. Montmorillon (p405) is France’s largest
cité de l’ecrit, attracting hundreds of visitors to
its book fair every year, while
the Breton town of Bécherel is
perhaps the prettiest, and is Writing display
home to fantastic bookshops. in Montmorillon
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