Bookshops
The best areas for books are the narrow streets of the quartier Latin and along the Seine, where rows of
stalls are perched against the river parapet. Here we've listed a few specialists and favourites. For books in English, head for Abbey Bookshop, Shakespeare & Co or W H Smith.
Abbey Bookshop/La Librairie Canadienne 29 rue de la Parcheminerie, 5e. Mº St-Michel. Mon-Sat 10am-7pm.
A Canadian bookshop round the corner from Shakespeare & Co, with lots of secondhand British and North American fiction, good social science sections, plus knowledgeable and helpful staff - and free coffee.
Artcurial 9 av Matignon, 8e. Mº Franklin-D-Roosevelt. Tues-Sun 10am-7.15pm; closed two weeks in Aug.
The best art bookshop in Paris.
FNAC Forum des Halles, niveau 2, Porte Pierre-Lescot, 1er. Mº/RER Châtelet-Les Halles. Mon-Sat 10am-7.30pm.
Not the most congenial of bookshops, but it's the biggest and covers everything; there are numerous other branches throughout the city.
Galerie Maeght 42 rue du Bac, 7e. Mº Rue-du-Bac. Tues-Sat 9.30am-7pm.
Famous art gallery which makes its own beautifully printed art books.
Présence Africaine 25bis rue des Écoles, 5e. Mº Maubert-Mutualité. Mon-Sat 10am-7pm.
Specialist black African bookshop, with titles ranging from literature to economics and philosophy by Caribbean and North American, as well as African writers.
Parallèles 47 rue St-Honoré, 1er. Mº Châtelet-Les Halles. Mon-Sat 10am-7pm.
An alternative bookshop, with everything from anarchism to New Age. Good for info on current events and gigs.
Shakespeare & Co 37 rue de la Bûcherie, 5e. Mº Maubert-Mutualité. Daily noon-midnight.
A cosy, famous literary haunt, American-run, with the biggest selection of secondhand English books intown. Also poetry readings and the like.
W H Smith 248 rue de Rivoli, 1er. Mº Concorde. Mon-Sat 9.30am-7pm.
Paris outlet of the British chain. Wide range of books and newspapers.
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