Librairie Galignani

The story

The Galignani family began publishing in Venice in 1520. In 1801 Giovanni Antonio Galignani opened a bookshop and reading room in Paris and launched Galignani's Messenger, a daily newspaper serving the English-speaking community in Europe; the venture attracted Byron, Wordsworth and Thackeray. The shop settled across from the Tuileries in 1856 and has stayed there since. Inside, tall 1930s bookshelves and large windows frame a room split into clearly labelled French and English sections, with English titles at the back and current bestsellers on a small upper balcony. Art books are a particular strength, alongside poetry, art history, architecture and fashion, collectible editions of classics, children's books and a well-edited shelf on Paris itself. The scent of paper and wood hangs over the whole space.