Shakespeare and Company, Independent bookstore in Latin Quarter, Paris, France
Shakespeare and Company is an English-language bookshop on rue de la Bûcherie in the fifth arrondissement of Paris, filled with shelves of new and used volumes. The space spreads across two levels, with a reading area upstairs featuring chairs and benches.
George Whitman opened the shop in 1951 under the name Le Mistral. Thirteen years later he changed the name to honor Sylvia Beach's legendary shop from the interwar period.
The name honors Sylvia Beach's famous shop that drew American writers in the 1920s. Today authors and readers from around the world meet here, often at readings held on the upper floor.
The shop opens every day from ten in the morning until eleven at night, leaving time to browse in the evening. The shelves stand close together, so visiting outside the afternoon rush works better.
More than thirty thousand writers have slept in the shop as part of the Tumbleweed program, working a few hours in exchange. Many slept on cots between the bookshelves and signed a guest book.
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