Paris bookstore disappear

 

The booksellers has been a staple of Parisian culture for centuries, known as a go-to supply exhausted or unusual reading material - but their life is threatened.

An office with a view

 

One of the most important monuments of Paris are the famous bookshops: booksellers who sell their products every day along the River Seine. Bargaining dates to 1400, the booksellers have been known for centuries as a go-to source for reading material exhausted or rare among locals and travelers who come here to find titles like in Vagrant author Colette biting and controversial or the first edition of the French comic strip The Mischievous Lili, from the early 1900s and has never been reissued. The cultivation of about 20 vendors at the turn of the 17th century, there are now about 240 booksellers in Paris. Their traditional green wooden boxes that dot both banks of the Seine, the Musée d'Orsay in the Arab World Institute, with the highest concentration is at the entrance of the Latin Quarter, home of the famous Sorbonne University. (Credit: Nick Kozak)

 

The traveller challenge

But even with 240 vendors lining the banks, competition does not come often in close positions. The 'booksellers biggest challenge over the past 20 years has been the proliferation of e-readers and Internet access, reducing sales of books and make materials outside the print easier to find. To offset declining sales, many have resorted to booksellers supplement their income with memories, which are technically permitted under the regulations of the city that allows the sale of commercial products from four green boxes is assigned to each vendor. But the movement did not sit well with some of the Items population, triggering a debate between suppliers in about what can and can not sell - and it will change a tradition that has been a staple of the Parisian culture. (Credit: Nick Kozak)

Price growth

At the end of 1980, Jean-Pierre Mathias left his job as professor of philosophy to become a bookseller. "When I came to my store, I started selling my old books ... I liked the idea of ​​following the philosophy here without having to be a teacher," he said. Mathias only sells books and engravings; He refused to comply with the increasing number of foreign tourists selling souvenirs. "For me, a book will always be a book, and people who love books continue to buy them. The theater did not disappear with the beginning of the film, "he says with a big smile (Credit: Nick Kozak).

From comics to keychains

Robert Francis was selling comics in his shop for over 35 years. At first, he said, people came to him, if you were looking for a particular comic story. If you do not, then they do online would. Now it is the opposite: they only come if they can not find online. To compensate, Robert memorabilia collection - including ubiquitous statues Eiffel Tower - has increased in recent years. As residents still come to buy a book or two, he said most of his customers are abroad and are more likely to buy his memories of his comics, which are mainly written in French. (Credit: Nick Kozak)

 

A job with benefits

Items Each is required to maintain their boxes, but beyond that, the work has a lot of freedom. Merchants can set their own hours of light (the stalls are locked once the sun sets); choose the reading material they want to sell; and spend the day enjoying the best views of Paris. Yet many booksellers believe that the city should do more to support tradition as lower sales. One suggestion is that the sellers of electricity installed so it can expand its hours of the night. (Credit: Nick Kozak)

Standing strong

Bernard Carver entered the business of selling rare books, 20 years after the arrival of Lebanon without much money. Soon he began living on the streets, he said, and chose comfort in books instead of alcohol. Passion, it binds with certain booksellers. To sell their products, he said, you must be familiar with, boasting that he read everything on your shelf. But even that did not stop the decline in sales, and expressed his anger to the proliferation of sold trinkets. Some marketers have even added folding tables in front of their stalls to expand its collection of memories - a tactic not covered by the regulations of the city. (Credit: Nick Kozak)

A creative solution

Many booksellers selling trinkets made in China, including the Eiffel Tower key chains and mugs I love Paris. One of the young traders, George Roman, chose instead to sell antique prints ads created by him and his father, and paintings by students of the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts, conveniently located just behind his store. Therefore, he said, he can sell souvenirs that are made both in France and linked to local culture - a solution, perhaps, taking the best of both worlds. (Credit: Nick Kozak