 |
| Angela – Quay Malaquais |
7:32 AM – With Angela of Santiago (Chile), we ran early during this beautiful morning of May. At that time, streets are still quiet, with very few pedestrians, deserted quays and the tourist places still little frequented. We had the city only for us. The morning, Paris belongs to the runners!
If you run the morning on the quays bordering the Seine, you will see surely large green boxes (as on the photo above).
They are the boxes of secondhand booksellers, called the “bouquinistes” (here a video – in French). You will see them opening from 11 am.The “bouquinistes” of Paris sell old books, secondhand or contemporaries but also of the exhausted editions, prints and etchings.
From the XVIth century, on the quays of Paris, we could meet small peddlers of books ; from 1620, twenty four approved secondhand booksellers. For a royalty, they are entitled to hold portable shops on the bridge and the neighboring quays. In 1859, the itinerant secondhand booksellers became concessionary of the city of Paris which enabled them to pose boxes at fixed place on the parapets.
The Seine is the only river which runs between rows of books (more than 300 000)!
Merci Angela!
 |
| “Bouquinistes” during the day – Quay Malaquais |
The route of the tour :
