France, where print is not dead
Living in a culture that values the written word nourishes my love affair with all things print. I’m sharing a few of my preferred places to stock up on literary materials in Paris.
I recently read that I am a part of a niche generational group called the Xennials. Those born in the late 1970s and early 1980s are a cross-over group who sit between Generation X and the Millennials, not quite identifying fully at either end of the range. According to Wikipedia, “Xennials are described as having had an analog childhood and a digital young adulthood. They are almost exclusively the children of baby boomers and came of age during a rapidly changing period that was the 1990s.” When I read this, it made complete sense.
Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, I spent hours in my room playing cassette tapes on my boom box of Duran Duran, Céline Dion, Whitney Houston, Pearl Jam, etc. In high school, I witnessed the invention of the CD, and Napster didn’t appear on the scene until I was in college. I also remember my father buying a portable phone for the car that came in a small briefcase-size bag. I felt like a million bucks pulling out the clunky recevior to make a phone call home, and I thought we were so advanced to have a phone in the car.
As the world continues to turn like a hamster on a wheel, spinning so fast that all you see is a blur, it seems that nostalgia is at the forefront of many minds. This is especially true for the Xennials, who can remember when the world waited for daily news. Although no one picks up a landline phone anymore or heads to the video store on Friday nights to rent a movie, I’m grateful that print is not dead. I’ve been a magazine/book/paper devotée all my life and continue to fan my flame for the tactile. I use a weekly planner, send thank you notes and snail mail cards, rent books from the library, and have a budget line item for magazines and newspapers.
Thankfully, I live in a country where paper is still king. Although I’m not a fan of the French bureacracy who love demanding a tome-like dossier for every administrative task, I appreciate that the French culture places a high value on literary text and the art of handwriting (children still learn cursive in school).
In Paris, bookstores are as numerous as pharmacies, and you can find papeteries dotted all over the city that carry stationery, pens, pencils, notebooks, etc. Specialty stationery shops like Benneton Graveur and Olivier de Sercey offer beautiful personalized stationery, business/calling cards, and Mélodies Graphiques is akin to a candy shop for paper-lovers.
My biggest paper penchant is for magazines. Give me a stack of mags, a café terrace and a few hours to while away, and I’m as happy as a dog with two tails (or a morning reading in bed all alone at home, which is rare with 2 little ones at the moment). When strolling along a Parisian street, you will often pass forest-green kiosks with their arms outstretched offering magazines, newspapers, and postcards, operating like a neighborhood welcome wagon. Paris has retained its news kiosks for the past 150 years, although the iconic design was tweaked a bit in 2019. The new design allows for a more comfortable interior for the vendors during the frigid winters and sweltering summers, albeit the kiosks look like they were funded by Playmobil. The Parisiens were apoplectic when the new designs were revealed!
Every Saturday after the last pancake has been finished off, I begin the weekend swinging by the kiosk on our street and picking up the FT Weekend newspaper and briefly shuffling through the various magazines displayed like ripe fruit ready for the taking. We have a brief chat with the vendor about the weather, the headlines of the weekend, and he knows our kids now from our weekly visits. It’s a human touch point that goes a long way in the city.
Aside from my local paper vendor, the best kiosk in my opinion sits right outside of Le Bon Marché. Bogopresse offers a smart array of magazines and newspapers, and I can always count on them to have the latest Konfekt magazine, Cabana, or Holiday.
If you are looking for a good spot to rest your feet, flip through a curated selection of magazines, and enjoy a coffee, head to Bonjour Jacob, a concept store that offers magazines, a café, and vinyl records and has locations both on the right and left banks. I also recently attended an event at the new Monocle Café and wanted to move right in. Located on the charming rue Bachaumont, the café/boutique is an inviting space with seating both inside and outside and offers coffee, cocktails, wine, and a small menu of savory and sweet bites. They have a selection of international magazines and books, and a Monocle boutique in the back. Other places to note are Ofr and Cahier Central, both offering more indie magazines.
Great writing is obviously a large reason I love magazines - a short story or article that momentarily takes you to another place or time or down a rabbit hole following the trail of a niche plot. However, a large part of a successful magazine is also the aesthetics, the art direction. This is where I first fell head-over-heels in love with print materials. I studied visual communications at university with plans to work at a magazine in the art department. However, after a graphic design internship at a publication one summer, I learned it was a lot of time sitting at a computer editing typography details and resizing images. I needed something a bit more tactile and realized I would be a better consumer. But my love affair with magazines didn’t wane.
Don’t judge a book by its cover is the opposite of how I pick up what to read. A well-executed typeface, color combination, and layout of the images that all support a fabulous headline are a sabotage to my budget. I have been burned a few times where a shiny cover leads to dull content, but I have accumulated a list of tried and true magazines that are consistently captivating.
I was recently gifted a vintage copy of HOLIDAY magazine that was all about France by my stepfather-in-law. He had come upon it while going through some old boxes in his attic, and when he pulled out the oversized magazine, I met him with an oversized smile. HOLIDAY has been one of those consistently captivating magazines for me, and the proof is in the pudding when I found myself curled up on the sofa for an hour engrossed in this particular 1957 edition of the magazine.
Aside from HOLIDAY, vintage covers of VOGUE and Harper’s Bazaar have to be my next favorite. These were the pre-computer days, when the covers were a mix of photography and fine art. I find these covers to be a work of art in themselves.
Speaking of vintage publications, if you are on the hunt for copies of old French newspapers and magazines, head to La Galcante in the 12eme arrondissement. This little shop contains Europe’s largest collection of press and is, for certain, a historical treasure trove.
Even though I didn’t stick to working in the magazine industry or graphic design, I recently picked up Graydon Carter’s new book and plan to live vicariously through his anecdotes about the glory days of working for the American magazine industry. So much has changed in the press and publishing industry since those days, but I’m thankful that the demand for print continues despite the aggressive rise of all things digital.
I encourage you, after you read this article, to go buy a newspaper, a paperback book or a magazine and while away your afternoon.