Shakespeare and Company Bookstore Paris: Bucket List Worthy

They say Paris is always a good idea. I say whether you are a book lover or someone who has an appreciation for history, adding Shakespeare and Company bookstore to your Paris itinerary is always a good idea. If you find yourself in Paris for a week or even just an afternoon, a visit to Shakespeare and Company is the perfect way to soak up the historic and cultural ambience the city has to offer. 

A brief history…

The first Shakespeare and Co. was founded in the year 1919 by American expatriate, Sylvia Beach, as half-bookstore and half lending library. Her patrons included some of the most beloved writers of the 20th century: Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Eliot and more. Overmore, Beach was the first to publish one of the most notable texts of literary modernism, James Joyce’s Ulysses, after many British and American publishers turned it down for being too obscene. 

In the late 1950s, after the store had been closed by the Germans during the Nazi occupation in France, Beach bestowed the ownership of her store to George Whitman who reopened it in a new location with its original name in her honor. In its second iteration, Shakespeare and Company was home to a new wave of young writers known as “Tumbleweeds” who slept on cots and benches in the bookstore and used it as a place to work on their new pieces. This second generation brought in writers such as James Baldwin, Langston Hughes and Ray Bradbury.       

Adding this spot to your itinerary is easy…

Today, this whimsical shop is owned by Whitman’s daughter, Sylvia Whitman (named after the original founder of the store). It is open to the public and is in a prime location for tourists. It is located at 37 Rue de la Bûcherie, 75005 Paris, France which is a short walk from the Notre Dame Cathedral along the Seine River. There is also a Shakespeare and Company Cafe next door that in addition to coffee and baked goods, serves vegan and gluten-free dishes. Around the corner, along Rue de la Huchette you can also find small souvenir shops, cafes, bars, restaurants and crepe stands. At the other end of the street you will find yourself in front of the beautiful fountain of Saint Michel. 

The literary utopia that is Shakespeare and Company today…

On the main floor, you will find the English-language bookstore. No photos are allowed in the store, but you will not be able to resist snapping a pic or two. The bookshelves are filled from floor to ceiling and in every nook and cranny; every time you turn around you find yourself in a new room filled with books. You’ll find books from any and all genres from new YA Fiction to Beat & Counterculture classics.

It doesn’t get any better than this, right? Wrong. You will think you’ve gone to literary heaven, that is until you venture up the narrow staircase to the second floor of the bookstore. Here you will find a collection of old and vintage books filling several rooms. Each room has cushioned seating areas that line the shelved rooms where you can sit down and take in the moment, or if you wish you can take a book off the shelves and read a page or two with the bookstore cat snuggled up at your feet. 

As you move towards the back room, you will find a little reading nook that has a small window opposite it. When I visited, there was an awesome vintage illustrated collection of Shakespeare’s plays displayed in the reading nook. I recommend sitting here for a few minutes and flipping through the pages. 

The grand finale is the back room, which again is brimming with books and seating areas. However, here you will first be drawn to the large picturesque window with a stunning view of the Notre Dame Cathedral’s famous towers. I don’t know about you, but I could sit here and enjoy the view all day long. 

Eventually, you will pry yourself away from this room and find your way back downstairs. If you are a bookworm, I already know you will be carrying your stack of books to the cash register. I highly recommend buying a book here, even if it’s just as a souvenir. First, if you are traveling to France from a different country, you might notice that they sell different editions of the books than those you would find at your home-country’s local bookstore. Secondly, while checking out, the bookstore clerk will ask if you would like your book stamped with this Shakespeare and Company logo stamp on the first cover page. This way, when you undoubtedly leave behind a piece of your heart, you will also be taking a piece of the store home with you to remember it by.