xoxo
Juliane
Tag: Shakespeare and Company
Shakespeare and Company
The history of Shakespeare and Company has intrigued me since I first read about it in Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. This very special bookshop was one of the first places I visited when I came to Paris for the first time and is still one of my favorite places. Shakespeare and Company is simply magique! After photographing New York illustrator Molly Crabapple at Shakespeare and Company, I was inspired to share with you the perfect little details of this magical bookshop in the heart of Paris.
Washed away by the Seine & the city, I found myself grounded here, breathing deep and utterly content. Live this moment. It is beautiful. ~ Author unknown
J’adore Anaïs Nin.
In Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller wrote “In America…you wouldn’t dream of living in a joint like this. Even when I was on the bum I slept in better rooms than this. But here it seems natural—it’s like the books you read.”
Ahhh, Henry & June ~ Anaïs Nin’s story about her relationship with Henry Miller and the love triangle between her, Henry and his wife June ~ one of my favorite books ever!
On a cold windswept street, this was a warm, cheerful place with a big stove in winter, tables and shelves of books, new books in the window, and photographs on the wall of famous writers both dead and living. The photographs all looked like snapshots and even the dead writers looked as though they had really been alive. ~ Ernest Hemingway, “Shakespeare and Company,” A Moveable Feast
This photo is from a fashion shoot I did for Angela Johnson’s t-shirt ball gown.
This last photo is from my first visit to Shakespeare and Company many years ago. This is a scan of a black & white film photograph. I feel so blessed to have captured this shot because the Henry Miller quote is no longer there, it’s been completely worn away.
If you would like to read a little about the history of Shakespeare and Company, you can read my previous post here with Molly Crabapple’s photo shoot.
xoxo
Juliane
Molly Crabapple in Paris ~ Part 3 Shakespeare and Company
Be not inhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise. ~ George Whitman
In 1919 American expat Sylvia Beach opened Shakespeare and Company, an English language bookstore in Paris. It was the place to be for all of the Lost Generation artists in the 1920’s and 30’s. Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce and Man Ray were all regulars. Unfortunately the bookshop had to close in 1941 during the occupation of Paris.
In 1951 George Whitman opened his own English language bookstore on the Left Bank of Paris, just across from Notre Dame Cathedral. Although it was originally called Le Mistral, he later changed it to Shakespeare and Company in honor of his friend Sylvia Beach.
Since it’s opening Whitman has offered artists and writers, “tumbleweeds” as he calls them, a place to sleep upstairs in his store in exchange for working an hour a day, writing a one-page autobiography and/or reading a book a day.
Many famous writers have either lived at Shakespeare and Company, shopped there or attended Whitman’s legendary tea and pancake parties, including some of my all time favorite writers – Anais Nin, Henry Miller and the Beat Generation writers Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg.
Molly Crabapple is one of those artists. When she was only 17 years old, before she became a successful illustrator, Molly lived at Shakespeare and Company.
This is the bench where Molly slept for months during her stay at Shakespeare and Company. During our photo shoot, Molly told me that she first learned to draw at Shakespeare and Company.
Upstairs is the reading room. The books are not for sale but visitors are encouraged to find a cozy spot on a sofa and read. Many of these books came from Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre and Sylvia Beach’s personal collections.
Whitman is now 97 years old and retired. He still lives above the store and continues to host Sunday tea parties. His daughter Sylvia Beach Whitman, named after his dear friend, now runs the store. To this day, writers are still welcome to stay at this magical bookshop in Paris…
You can see Part 1 from Molly’s Paris portrait session here and Part 2 here.
This is the creed of Hotel Tumbleweed
give what you can, take what you need ~ George Whitman
xoxo
Juliane