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CULTURE

The best places to buy English-language books in France

New rules mean that retailers in France will have to charge a higher minimum delivery fee for book deliveries. So now might be the time to get down to your local bookshop.

Published: 7 October 2023 16:44 CEST
Updated: 17 October 2023 17:13 CEST
France has one of the highest number of independent bookstores in the world. Here is a selection of some of our favourite to sell English-language titles
Photo by Damien MEYER / AFP

France is estimated to have more than 3,500 independent bookstores – more than the UK and the US combined. 

A new law, designed to protect the sector from competition from American giants like Amazon and Ebay, means that online retailers must now charge at least €3 for book deliveries valued at less than €35. 

This rule, which came into effect on Saturday, is designed to encourage readers to visit bookstores in person. 

Here is our selection of some of the best places to buy books in France:

Paris

  • Shakespeare & Co

Shakespeare & Co is undoubtedly the most famous of all of France’s English-language book shops. This historic site on Rue de la Bûcherie was once frequented by literary giants like Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs. The quaint store is spread over multiple floors and has a wide selection of new books and some second-hand books available. It also hosts regular readings and other events. There is also an adjacent café.

In large part thanks to the beautiful setting, Shakespeare & Co is popular with tourists and can be a little expensive. You can visit their website here. 

  • The Abbey Bookshop

Nestled in the heart of the Latin Quarter, The Abbey Bookshop offers a wide range of English-language fiction and non-fiction, with more than 40,000 titles. While a good portion of these are available for browsing in store, some of the books listed on their website are held in storage, so it is worth calling ahead if you are looking for a particular title. The Abbey Bookshop also has a special section dedicated to Canadian literature. 

  • San Francisco Books 

San Francisco Books, located close to the Odéon Metro station, offers a wide range of second-hand books at reasonable prices. Set up by a group of Americans in 1997, this charming little shop also offers a delivery service. You can visit their website here. 

  • Galignani

Galignani is a huge bookstore located on the Rue de Rivoli and, although it stocks a huge French selection too, is widely considered one of the oldest English-language book shops in mainland Europe.

Founded in 1801, it stocks a wide array of British and American publications across all genres, as well as a staggeringly niche history section. Although it has a better variety than most, if not all, of the other English-language bookstores in France, it is a little pricey. You can visit their website here.

  • The Red Wheelbarrow

The Red Wheelbarrow is located at No. 9 and 11 rue de Médicis, near the Jardin de Luxembourg, and it is one of a couple of English language bookstores on the left bank of the Seine. 

The store is open everyday from 10am to 7pm. You can visit their website here.

Elsewhere in France

While Paris has the biggest share of English-language bookshops in France, there are some gems scattered around the rest of the country too. Here are some of our favourites.  

  • Damn Fine Bookstore (Lyon)

The Damn Fine Bookstore not only has a fine selection of English-language titles, but also hosts regular book club meetings and a delightful little cafe. Helpful staff are always willing to give recommendations based on your tastes. You can visit their website here.

  • Emma’s Bookshop (Clermont-Ferrand)

Situated by the cathedral in the centre of Clermont-Ferrand, Emma’s sells German, Italian, Portuguese, French and English books. It also has a community aspect, with a café in-store and regular events, plus an English-language book club that is open to all (native speakers and locals trying to improve their English alike).

  • Book in Bar (Aix-en-Provence)

This small bookstore in Aix-en-Provence sells more than 25,000 books in multiple languages and has a sizeable English section. There are regular events, including Q&As, book signings, poetry readings and regular book club meetings. As if it couldn’t get any better, they also sell tea and scones at the cafe. You can visit their website here.

  • Le Bookshop (Montpellier) 

Le Bookshop, is the go-to for anglophone bookworms in Montpellier and is located on the picturesque Rue du Bras-de-Fer. If you visit during the summer months, it has a shaded terrace where you can read your new purchase while taking in the charming ambiance of everyday street life. It is host to various book clubs, including for young adults and the queer community. You can visit their website here.

  • Bradley’s Bookshop (Bordeaux) 

Bradley’s Bookshop claims to be the only specialised seller of English-language literature in all of Aquitaine. It mostly stocks fiction and has a particularly wide offering for children and young adults. You can visit their website here. 

  • Antibes Books (Antibes)

The resort town of Antibes is nestled between the southern cities of Cannes and Nice. As well as a selection of fiction and non-fiction literature, it also sells puzzles and board games. You can visit their website here. 

  • The Bookshop (Toulouse) 

The Bookshop sells a wide range of international literature – some 27,000 titles – much of it in English. Located in the historic heart of central Toulouse and staffed by a friendly and informed team, it is well worth a visit. Their website is difficult to navigate but the venue itself is a pleasure to peruse. 

  • La Nouvelle Librairie Internationale V.O. (Lille)

La Nouvelle Librairie International in Lille is probably the best English-language bookstore in northern France and stocks a range of classics, graphic novels, non-fiction and much more. It often hosts workshops, debates, readings and author Q&As. You can visit their website here. 

 
Online

While there are a great number of charming English-language bookshops in France, including many that haven’t made it onto our list, you may still want to buy online.

Besides the obvious giants like Amazon and Ebay, there are a number of French sites where you should be able to find English-language titles to your taste. 

FNAC offers a decent range of English-language literature at an affordable cost. You can also visit their stores, which are dotted around France. 

Kiwibook is a website where you can buy and sell second-hand books, often at very low prices. Although its selection is mostly French-language. La Bourse aux Livres is similar, but the selling function is even more intuitive, with an option to estimate the value of a book by simply scanning its barcode. 

Momox also offers a huge selection of cheap second-hand books, most of them French, alongside other items such as vinyl and video games. 

Do you know of other English-language bookshops that should feature on this list? Let us know on [email protected] 

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Member comments

  1. I’ve also found a number of English language books in Emmaus, though obviously it’s a bit hit and miss as to when they have any in.

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CULTURE

Iconic French painting to make comeback in true colours at Louvre

A world-famous painting of a bare-chested woman leading French revolutionaries is this week to reveal its true colours after restorers cleansed it from decades of varnish and grime.

Published: 1 May 2024 07:44 CEST
Iconic French painting to make comeback in true colours at Louvre

The public will be able to admire Eugene Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People” in its full glory at the Louvre museum from Thursday.

“We’re the first generation to rediscover the colour” of the work, said an enthusiastic Sebastien Allard, director of paintings at the Paris museum.

Delacroix painted the artwork to commemorate France’s July Revolution of 1830.

He depicted a woman personifying Liberty brandishing the French flag and leading armed men over the bodies of the fallen.

The image has since become iconic, in the 20th century even appearing on French banknotes.

The French state bought the painting in 1831 during its first public exhibition, and it has been housed at the Louvre since 1874.

A national treasure, it has only ever travelled outside France once — to Japan in 1999.

Over the years restorers had applied eight layers of varnish in a bid to brighten its colours, but instead ended up drowning them under a coating of drab yellow.

The colours, “the whites, the shadows — all of this ended up melting together under these yellowish layers,” Allard said.

“Grime and dust” had also become trapped in the varnish.

‘Enchanting’

After six months of painstaking restoration — the painting’s first since 1949 — a bright blue sky has re-emerged above the Notre-Dame cathedral in the work’s background.

White smoke bursts from the men’s guns and dust more clearly clings to the air above the Paris barricade.

Benedicte Tremolieres, one of the two restorers to clean the canvas, said it was “enchanting” to see the painting reveal its secrets.

Her colleague Laurence Mugniot agreed.

“Delacroix hid tiny dabs of blue, white and red all over in a subtle sprinkling to echo the flag,” she said.

She pointed for example to the “blue eye with a speck of red” of one of the characters.

Because of its size — 2.6 by 3.25 meters — all restoration work had to be done on site.

Curator Come Fabre said specialists first thoroughly inspected the artwork using X-ray, ultraviolet and infrared radiation, comparing what they found with archive images of the painting.

The restorers then carried out tests on tiny fractions of the work.

Peering through a magnifying glass or microscope, “they even discovered that certain alterations, including a brown mark on Liberty’s dress, had been added after Delacroix and could therefore be removed,” Fabre said.

The curator said it was no wonder the painting had become such a symbol.

After the end of France’s German occupation during World War II, it appeared on banknotes and stamps, he said.

In more recent years, French street artist Pascal Boyart depicted Liberty leading a group of “yellow vest” protesters.

And adaptations of the painting have also appeared at protests in Bulgaria and Hong Kong.

“Delacroix’s brilliant idea is to have managed to represent unstoppable collective action in movement, with men rallying around a woman embodying the idea of liberty,” Fabre said.

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