Shakespeare and Company is an American bookshop on Paris’s Left Bank. A former monastery for Notre Dame Cathedral, it has been a center of Paris literary life since the 1950s, thanks to the late George Whitman, the bookstore’s eccentric, bohemian founder. Since it opened, thousands of writers and artists, from Allen Ginsberg to Rachel Antonoff, have lived at Shakespeare and Company for free, working in the shop during the day and transforming its benches and lofts into the Tumbleweed Hotel at night. You can’t make a reservation at the Tumbleweed—the only way to get a spot is to show up at the store, track down George’s daughter, Sylvia, and ask. I did so twice this year, in January and June. The first bunch of these photos is from January.
A writer’s nook for visitors to the store.
At night in the store, people sleep in lofts and cozy alcoves like this one.
Another good sleeping spot: this loft in the curtained-off children’s section. Legend has it that Tumbleweed residents used to nap up there during store hours, scaring the children when they emerged.
Getting into bed.
Above the shop, in George’s old quarters, is the writers’ studio.
Visitors like to play the piano.
Portraits of literary heroes in the stairwell.
A bed in the Sylvia Beach Memorial Library, a free reading library on the bookstore’s second story, named in honor of the founder of the first Shakespeare and Company bookshop and the publisher of James Joyce’s Ulysses.
Photos in the rafters show Sylvia, the current owner, as a child, and George, her father.
Tumbleweeds residents have access to an upstairs kitchen.
The store in its winter-holiday gear.
The rest of this album is from my second stay at Shakespeare and Company, in June.
Stained glass in the front till references one of George’s favorite quotations, from William Butler Yeats: “I must lie down where all the ladders start / In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.”
The shop prepares to host the ceremony where the Paris Literary Prize will be awarded. (This year’s winner was Body Electric by C.E. Smith.)
Kitty, the bookshop cat (named for Anne Frank’s diary friend), descends from George’s apartment to observe the bookstore. City Lights Books is the name of a San Francisco bookshop founded by the Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who was a friend of George’s.
The front room of the Sylvia Beach Memorial Library early in the morning.
George’s rules for the Tumbleweeds still hold true: In order to stay there you must work in the shop, read a book a day, and write an autobiography (and include a picture) before you leave.
The autobiographies might be the best part of Tumbleweeding. You get a sense of the huge community of writers and travelers in the world, and feel closely connected to people you’ve never met.
Kitty among the Tumbleweed archives. The binders contain thousands of single-page autobiographies by all of the shop’s temporary residents, from the 1950s to now.
My friend Sita playing with Colette, the bookstore’s black dog.
Visitors leave notes on the “Mirror of Love” in the children’s section.
After closing, the staff and Tumbleweeds like to put on music and dance (which always surprises the tourists outside). Favorite songs in June were “This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)” by the Talking Heads and “Everywhere” by Fleetwood Mac.
When it’s open, the store is usually too packed to move. But at night it becomes the world’s coolest private library. As a Tumbleweed walking through the shop, you always feel this tension between ownership and sharing. Hundreds of people sit on my bed every day, not even knowing that anyone sleeps there (or that they could sleep there for free, too). But the store’s magic comes from the way it shows that all the best experiences are shared. ♦
Molly Dektar is a writer and photographer from North Carolina. You can find many more photos on her blog.
86 Comments
I visited this place over the summer; it really is magical.
This is the Coolest thing ever!!! Wow it’s amazing that the tradition has been carried on for so long even in a place as popular as Paris. I would love to hear more about Molly’s stay there, it sounds incredible
oh my god this is the best thing i have ever seen and the cherry on top was the music that you dance to ahhhhhhhh
This is so amazing, I would love to do this!!!!
I learned to read in this bookstore. A picture of me from when I was five is on the mirror somewhere and George would always be around handing out cookies. It’s maybe my favorite place in the world. Wonderful, wonderful photos!
this is so perfect and beautiful. I’m dying to go to paris, and living in a bookshop would make my life. this would be a dream come true!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, this is the coolest thing ever. I really want to stay there!
-Anna
this is my dream. amazing photos.
This sounds so marvelous! I would love to stay there one day, it really seems like the coolest place in the world.
Absolutely beautiful photographs!! This must have been so amazing, just, wow. It’s cliché, but I want to go to Paris so bad!!!
Haha, Paris does sound like a cliché sometimes–everyone seems to want to get there someday. I studied abroad last spring and got to visit Paris for the very first time–for just barely over 24 hours–and was kind of worried that it wouldn’t be worth the hype, but it was wonderful. Magical, even.
This is a total overdose in happiness for this literature major
Can I please just skip high school and live in an amazing parisian bookstore? This sounds fantastic and the photos are beautiful.
Shakespeare & Co. is my favorite place in the whole world <333 I hope I get to spend the night there sometime
Love the Photos! Everything Seems to be so Dreamy & Magical. This is so Amazingly Perfect. I’ve Been Dying to go to Paris, & Living in a Parisian Bookshop (Two of my Favourite Things Put Together) Would Be Icing on the Cake. Definitely Adding This to my List of Things to Do!
xoox
Are there a lot of places like this? I’ve always been really interested in places like this or the Chelsea Hotel or the Beat Hotel. I can never find more information on the smaller, still functioning places though.
this looks like such an amazing experience!
That’s it, I’m starting a bucket list, and this is the first thing on it.
I want to go there I want to go there I want to go there I need to go there
O.
M.
G.
!!!!!!!!
That has to be the best place to live EVAAAAR
I was there three weeks ago, and in two days Im going back! Everything about it is so wonderful. But by the time i was there the dancing tune had changed to drop it like it’s hot, which really, really confused tourists outside.
I love when it snows here, it doesn’t very often, she’s lucky to have caught it on camera! the last time it snowed was like in march for just a short week ! beautiful pics !
this is the coolest thing EVER oh my god and the pictures are gorgeous!! i love it xxx
This is everything I want from life
I love Shakespeare & Co so much ! I’ve been working here last summer it was such a great experience ! Now I live in Paris and everytime I feel like escaping the craziness of the city I take the metro and go at the bookshop. The best part is you inevitably meet nice people there.
Did you keep a diary of who you met/what you did/what you read while you were there? If so, I would love to read it – it should totally be posted on here! (If you don’t mind sharing)
I did keep a diary! Thanks for the idea– I will try to write a diary-based post for my blog soon.
What’s your blog called?
It’s always been a dream of mine to visit Shakespeare and Co. These photos are absolutely beautiful. just to be surrounded with books is a blessing.
Wow
such a beautiful bookshop! if i get the chance to go to Paris, this is the first place i will visit. ps Kitty is a lucky cat ♥
oh my GODDDDDDDD my dad’s friend told me about this years ago and i’ve always wanted to stay here – i hope i can!!!!
I CAN’T EVEN BELIEVE THIS PLACE IS REAL hands down bookshops are my favourite places ever but my local independent bookshop has fucking closed down :((((( i’ve been going to it since i can remember (i cried when i found out) and now it’s an empty shop and i can’t explain how sad that is :((
Such an atmospheric and incredible photoset! I’m incredibly inspired and have learnt so much! Although I knew it was famous, I had no idea of the significance of Shakespeare & Co.
Thank you so much!
– Isabella :D
[‘umm_isabella’ on twitter and instagram]
This bookshop is so beautiful, and such a wonderful idea! I remember first hearing about it on a documentary about Jeanette Winterson, and thought it looked amazing then. Unfortunately, I am terrible at writing, and so I probably won’t be spending my days sat in there, reading peacefully.
This is so cool!
oh my gosh, i recently went to paris, but i didnt have time to go into this bookstore!! it seemed really cool from the outside, so i was upset i never got to go inside. but now, i have this photoset!!!!
I was there last July!!
a helpful american guy working there complemented my taste ..aw shucks..
(btw the way i bought infinite jest by d.f.w.)
These pictures are magical! You look like you had such a fantastic experience there. This is the kind of thing I want to do when I graduate.
This is so, so, so, so beautiful. I really love it.
x
I was there, June of last year! And you can’t go wrong with Talking Heads or Fleetwood Mac
this is so beautiful! It’s like heaven! Can you tell me which camera you used pleeease???
Thanks! I used mostly a Canon AE-1, and sometimes an Olympic Stylus Epic, and mostly 400-speed film.
I visited that bookstore when I went to Paris in April! It’s such a cool place and I’m so jealous that you lived there!
this is so crazy! i spent all of last week drowning myself in as much information and pictures of shakespeare and co as possible!
it’s so beautiful, i’m so obsessed!
It’s places like this that make me glad to live on earth/be a human/etc. etc. This is seriously so beautiful, I’m gonna cry rainbows
I am speechless and moved to tears
This is MAGICAL. Shit I am going there before I die
WOW, this is perfect. I need to visit.
I had to take a deep breath before opening these photos – i visited Shakespeare and company last spring and it is on the first place on my list of 10 magical places. The first thing i did was gasp when i opened the door and got a smile from a middle aged customer. I spent like, over an hour there and shed a few tears before leaving. (i sound so pathetic) and oh man i miss it.
this is so definitely on my bucket list !!
it looks like one of the most beautiful things to be done in paris. i’ve been there twice so far, but never suspected there’d be such an awesome thing as living at shakespeare and co ! the people look all so wonderful and contemplatively beautiful – how i’d love to meet so great persons there.
xx cha
p.s. fellow artists and poets might wanna say hi (:
Okay. Now I HAVE to go back to Paris and stay at that bookstore. It sounds amazing.
I want to go to there.
This is FANTASTIC.
This is beautiful and magical and all I want in life. I can’t even imagine getting to read all those autobiographies!
this is the most amazing place ever…I can’t really believe what I’m reading. I want to go there so badly, it looks like heaven…what a beautiful idea! I want to cry for some reason I don’t know it just makes me so happy that places like this exist
I was there this summer! It was on my hit list of places to visit while I was there, I bought the Diviners by Libba Bray and a biography of Joni Mitchell. My favourites are 9, 13,29,34 and 46!
woahhh… so cool
God I went there once when I was 13 and I didn’t really appreciate it… I want to return now that I can actually appreciate the beauty of the place…
MY DREAM HAS COME TRUE! Now I just need to get there…
Sorry for the slightly cautionary comment but… is it safe to have that photograph up of the autobiography where someone’s passport number is visible? I know it’s from 1997 but still… just thought I’d check!
My life would be seriously boring without Rookie.
I was kinda stressed out and needed a break, but then I looked through this album and it made my heart soar :)
SIGN ME UP
SIGN ME UP
SIGN ME UP
i love everything about this.
This is so wonderful. It’s definitely on my list of favorite things ever.
So magical and wonderful and mysterious and intellectual my goodness. I could have never believed something so precious and historical could exist! Its like a modern-day Ravenclaw dormroom!!
Someone really ought to make a movie about this. Your photo diary is simply fascinating. Thank you for sharing, you have made my day (if not week) better!
Okay, so this is kind of the coolest place ever. I must visit next time I go to Paris! Who knows, maybe I’ll become the next Tumbleweeder? :)
Wow I’m actually crying for some reason. I went there last December and it was so incredible :) I’m dying to go back!
beautiful pictures and also this is the same bookstore in the beginning of Before Sunset
I’m going to Paris on Monday and this just made my tourist hitlist
Amazing photos!!
Oh my…
Going on the bucket list.
Amazing! Definitely going on my bucket list.
oh my gosh all the pictures are beautiful and everything about it is just so so wonderful i need to go one day
This is on top of my bucket list. Staying a night in a place filled with books and being surrounded with like minded people would be the best experience.
this is where i need to be. this is really where i need to be.
how brilliant!
I really love this… wow!
Beautiful photos! I always wanted to visit Paris.
rawillyolivier.blogspot.com
OH MY GOD IS THIS A DREAM WORLD??!!??!1!?
This is probably the coolest place on the whole world.
Oooh I’m going to Paris tomorrow. Probably going to spend an entire day here. Last time I was in Paris I missed my train because I was reading Pablo Neruda at S & Co…
i clicked on this because i recognised the bookshop from Before Sunset, but this turned out to be one of the most amazing posts i’ve seen on here in a while. i think you’re probably living my ideal life.
OMG!!! This is awesome!!! :)
Whoa, I had no idea such a place existed! I can feel the magic through the photos, thanks for sharing!