Page One Bookstore 叶一堂, Beijing

This is the second post on two very different bookstores in Beijing which I(Chris) visited before the pandemic.

Page One is a bookstore chain and publisher founded in Singapore in 1983 by Mark Tan (陈家强), with locations in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Thailand, and in China (early 2010’s).

This Page One bookstore in Beijing was located in the historically commercial area of Qianmen 前門 (Zhengyangmen (正阳门) and Dashilan 大栅栏, just south of Tiananmen Square.  It is now a very touristy area filled with people, souvenir stores and chain restaurants – all housed in faked old Chinese buildings.

The bookstore is situated on a side street, away from the horde. The interior cannot be more different from the chaos on the street. It is a quieter, dimly-lit, cavernous space filled with books wall to wall.

Unlike typical bookstores, it did not feel claustrophobic despite the number of volumes on display.  The minimalist approach to decoration helped to maintain a calm, almost contemplative ambiance.

The overall brightness in-store was dark but the merchandises were all adequately lit and highlighted, inviting one to browse.

Like all modern bookstores, they sell toys and dolls. I guess that is one way to lure kids into a bookstore.

On each floor, several architecturally-attractive substructures were erected to create a small area separate from the main floor.

.Some of the spaces are isolating and intimate, allowing the shopper some private time with their books.

Some are display platforms while another is for enjoying a coffee.

The cafe was operated by Kyoto Ogawa Coffee, names of the origins of the beans were in English.

The upper floors resemble a more traditional bookstore with a wood-color tone on one floor, except there were books displayed in the ceiling. Interesting but not practical for consumers.

The surprise for any first-time visitor is the dramatically-framed view of the south-facing facade of Archery Tower 箭楼, one of several buildings that constitute Qiamen 前門 or Zhengyangmen 正阳门 which once guarded the southern entry into the Imperial inner City

The Archery Tower is positioned on the central north-south axis of Beijing aligned with the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong and the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen Square, the Tiananmen Gate itself, and the imperial throne in the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City, the city’s Drum and Bell Towers and the entrance to the Olympic Green in the far north.

Another floor of the bookstore concentrating on the arts and literature has a plain white theme.

Photography section

Page One began as a small shop stocking handpicked art and design books in Singapore, accumulated a loyal following over the years and evolved into a brand.  We believe there are other Page One bookstores in Beijing, in Guomao – the China World Trade Center 中国国际贸易中心 and in Sanlitun 三里屯. 

However, the shops outside China have been closed in Singapore in 2011, Taiwan in 2015 and Hong Kong in November 2016. We can imagine the competition Page One was facing with Taiwan’s Eslite Bookstore in the same markets. See our post on Eslite Spectrum in Hong Kong. 

We cannot see the Taiwanese Eslite opening a bookstore in China, let alone in Beijing. Page One is safe for now but it had to subject itself to self-censorship – books that criticize the Chinese communist party were not stocked.

This post is written in 2021, we are not sure if this bookstore in Beijing is still operating after the pandemic. I am quite sure the Wangfujing Bookstore (featured in an earlier post) is still around.

If you have not read our earlier post on the other Beijing bookstore, click here.  What a contrast !

Wangfujing Bookstore 王府井书店, Beijing

The following two posts are about two very different bookstores in Beijing, both visited before the pandemic.

The first is Wanfujing Bookstore, situated at the beginning of Wangfujing Dajie (王府井大街), in Dongcheng district 東城區 of central Beijing.

I (Chris) was on a business trip and I dragged a very patient colleague along to this bookstore.  I hope you also enjoy this indulgence of mine.

Let’s start with some music made by guzheng 古箏, an instrument sold in this store.

The bookstore is one of the city’s biggest and most comprehensive bookstores, occupying an entire building.

Five above-ground floors are dedicated to books and cultural products. The entrance featured a counter for stamp collectors and a table of books on Xi Jinping thoughts and communist party teachings.

Floor 1 sells books on social science and philosophy; politics, law, and history; business and management; finance and securities; travel and geography –  “一层经营：社科哲学、政法历史、经济管理、财政金融、旅游地理”.

A more literal translation of the sign below says “test preparation books for lawyers”.

A selection of biographies of famous world leaders -e.g.,  Obama, Hilary, Macron, Angela, Thatcher, Justin, Lee Kuan Yew 李光耀, Moon Jae-In 文在寅 and Gandhi.

Floor 2: foreign languages, primary and secondary education text books – “二层经营：外语、初等教育、中等教育、汉语、教理科普”  Floor 3:  children’s books – “三层经营：少儿读物”

Chinese classics (e.g., 吶喊) and translated classics (e.g., Little Prince, Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (20,000 leagues under the seas).

My favorite is Floor 4: chinese and foreign literature, arts and pictorials, music and theatre; imported originals –  “四层经营：中国文学、外国文学、美术画册、音乐戏剧、进口原版”

I cannot resist snapping a picture of this section on floor 4 with books on aesthetics – “assthetic”.

According to the bookstore’s web page, the bookstore played a big role in educating Beijing’s citizens about the spirit of Olympics movement, in preparation for the 2008 Summer Games.  Many hilarious or embarrassing translation gaffes and mistakes were corrected or removed during this time.  This is a new one but a lot less obvious.

Calligraphy brushes, and volumes of famous calligraphic works and stone inscription rubbings.

The floors of the bookstore that stocked cultural products other than books reminded me of a Chinese government-owned department store (Yue Wah 裕華國貨) near where I lived in Hong Kong.

Western art supplies

There is a separate gallery for scrolls and paintings.  This floor also sells small electronics and music.

First time I saw so many guzheng on sale. Hope you tried the Spotify link above.

Floor 5:  medical and biology; living and health- “五层经营：医学生物、生活保健”

Drinking tea is good for your health.

There are several shelves full of books on Kungfu (or more literally Wuxia) – this section focusing on Wing Chun style. The selection here must be the richest and unique in the world.

The top floor provides a multi-functional space cultural exchange activities, such as lectures. The bookstore was founded on the same year that Peoples’ Republic of China was established – February 10, 1949. I think it is owned or at least supported by the government.

I do not remember what this model was for.

Superior fine books are displayed behind glass (English translation says “recommended books” which is not accurate).

It moved to the current address in 1950, expanded and renovated in 1970 and 2000. In 1994, Wangfujin Dajie was designated as a commercial street and the whole area was rebuilt with modern shops while many streets are pedestrianized.

The basement floor has a food court that was closed.

I bought several books on art and travel within China. Really wished I had more time.

 

Maison Assouline, London

Another post on bookstores.

Assouline is a publisher of books that serve as luxury lifestyle accessories. They are based in New York but the flagship store is in London, opened in 2014.  We were in London during Christmas 2018.

The store is situated between two other book-lovers destinations – Hatchards and Waterstones – mainstream bookstores. I made a post on Waterstones before – click here.  The Maison announces its presence on Piccadily in a large sans serif font. While the signage is modern, the interiors of the store is not.

The Maison Assouline did not feel like a bookstore at all with its high ceilings and wood-paneled walls. I do not remember seeing any window that looks out to Piccadilly. A passerby will have no idea what is behind the door.

The heavy walls and doors effectively blocked out the traffic noise, transporting the shop to a seemingly less busy locale.

The store felt like a library at first until one sees the nice bar (Swans Bar) which also serves coffee.

The subject matters of the books are fairly homogeneous – images of luxurious travels, designer clothes, jewelry, and various kinds of objects of desire. They created this company to be the first luxury brand on culture. They wanted to supply everything for a contemporary library for the well-healed.

The publisher has a rather small catalog. I see multiple books about Dior and Chanel.  Yawn … .

They don’t waste shelf space to sell books by other publishers – so it seems.

Opened for browsing are copies of “The Impossible Collection of Design” and “The Impossible Collection of Art”.  It is certainly impossibly heavy and beautifully presented. Quintessential coffee table tome.

I wonder what is the average word count per page of the books published by Assouline.

Assouline claims that their boutiques are “where one can discover a world of good taste, excitement and intellect, a place where “culture can be acquired” within a luxurious environment.” They are pretentious and honest about their intention.

We have observed a growing trend in many bookstores around the world – many other lifestyle items are often sold next to books. In Maison Assouline, I think the ratio of books to other items is skewed more towards the soaps, scented candles, furniture, etc.

Given the small number of books and their prices, one has to wonder which is the profit driver – the accoutrements of a good life or the books (they are not mutually exclusive as some books can fill that role).

We did not see the rest of the shop but there are two more floors of luxuries, including not only rare books, but also service –  library interior design with bespoke furniture.

Contrast this store’s concept of exclusivity against the commonality of Amazon Books in Walnut Creek – click here to see that post.

 

 

 

 

Amazon Books, Walnut Creek

We have posted on this blog many pictures of bookstores, and lamented the fact that brick-and-mortar bookstores are becoming rare and possibly extinct in certain cities. In the US, this trend is driven largely by the advent of e-books sold online. Amazon started their global online business with this retail concept.

By chance, we came across an Amazon bookstore in California, in Walnut Creek, a suburb of San Francisco. It has a store front and live employees inside.

It looks like a normal bookstore but with far fewer books on display. They display multiple copiess of a select few books on the shelf. The front covers are displayed rather than the spine.

Let’s take a look around. The books are displayed according to the subject and its popularity by some measure.

There were 3 full shelves of cookbooks compared to one shelf of Art & Design or Computers & Coding.

Surprisingly, they have a small section for Dungeon and Dragon tabletop games as well as graphic novels.

We suspect what was on display was determined by analytics of the local customers. Just showing what your neighbors are reading. This is Amazon where data drives everything. By the way, we visited the store in 2019, so the best sellers shown here are out of date.

The review written by Amazon customers are reproduced along with star ratings and the number of reviews to convince you to buy – similar to the online experience.

Did you know that even the highlights you made in a Kindle could be used by Amazon to sell books ? They are monetizing your attention and recollection. Instead of having a knowledgeable employee in store, they are leveraging Kindle readers. Amazon is the only company that have access to such unique data.

The store also sells their Amazon-branded products, particularly electronic goods, like tablets and smart home gadgets.

The store also sell other products that are popular on Amazon, e.g., travel essentials.

Yes, they have a coffee shop inside as well.

The store has a cashier, presumably accepting cash for payment.

This is clearly an experiment on the future of retailing: how to extract synergy from a brick-and-mortar store format when it owns the biggest online store in the world. Amazon is not hesitating to disrupt itself for the future.

“Their Morocco” by Mehdi de Graincourt

This is our last post on Morocco which we visited in January/February 2020, just before the coronavirus pandemic hit Europe and Africa. The tourism industry suffered enormously worldwide.  We hope the lodgings and services we had enjoyed can bounce back quickly in 2021.

We close this series with a softback coffee-table book I picked up at the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech.  I checked its availability online while at the shop. To manage luggage weight, following IT’s advice, generally I check bookdepository.com before buying any books while travelling. It is a way to suppress that otherwise untameable shopping impulse. The English version of “Their Morocco” is published by the Fondation Jardin Majorelle (where we were visiting) but I could only find the French version “Leur Maroc” online.

The byline of the book is “The Kingdom Seen Through the Eyes of Artists, Writers and Explorers from Other Countries.” The Foreword is by Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent’s partner – see our earlier post here about their museum and garden.

The people covered in the book include more than 60 notable characters divided into 3 periods- before 1912; 1912-1956; and 1956 since independence to the present, and the characters are presented according to their time of arrival. I have picked a few who resonated with me to share here.

René Caillié (1799-1838) – he was the first European who documented his travels in 1827 on the Caravan route, from Guinea up the the Niger river to Timbuktu (Tombouctou see drawing below), then crossing the Sahara from south to north to Fes, and eventually Tangier. His travelogue was published by the French Geographical Society in 1829, and he was awarded the Légion d’honneur.

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) arrived in Tangier in 1912, became obsessed with the blue Moroccan sky and was dazzled by the lush nature and vibrant colors. He spent months in Morocco producing a collection of paintings heavily influenced by his sensations of the country.

Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) – American writer, famous for her diaries and erotica, first visited Morocco in 1936. This book reproduced short passages of her diary describing her arrival and discovery of Fes in poetic, exquisite details  … “I was overwhelmed by everything I saw. Mystery and labyrinth. Complex streets. Anonymous walls. Secret luxury. … The birds do not chatter as they do in Paris, they chant, trill with operatic and tropical fervor.”

Joséphine Baker (1906-1975) was an American-born French music hall entertainer, French Resistance agent, and civil rights activist. In 1925, she was renowned in Paris as a dancer, performed the Charleston in a costume, consisting of only a short skirt of artificial bananas and a beaded necklace. When the Germans invaded France, Baker campaigned against anti-Semitism, and eventually left Paris to the Château des Milandes, her home in the south of France where she housed resistance fighters.

In 1941, she settled in Marrakech and taking advantage of her singing tour, she met informants and ambassadors in Casablanca and Spain; she entertained British, French, and American soldiers in North Africa.  After the war, she received the military decorations, Croix de guerre and the Rosette de la Résistance from France.

Paul Bowles (1910-1999) wrote The Sheltering Sky which was my (Chris) book for this trip – see earlier post here.

Orson Welles (1915-1985) started making the film Othello (based on Shakespeare’s play), between 1949 and 1950 with a team of 50 people in Essaouira for the outdoor scenes. But its Italian backer declared bankruptcy and Welles had to use local tailors and blacksmiths to make costumes and armors for the film.  In 1952, the film entered the Cannes Film Festival under the colors of the Moroccan flag, and won the Grand Prix.  In 1992, King Mohammed VI inaugurated Orson Welles Square near the walls of the medina facing the port, and just outside our hotel (see later post here).

Dalida (Iolanda Gigliotti ,1933-1987) – French singer and actress, born in Egypt to Italian parents, very popular international artist from the 60’s to the 80’s, made pop, disco and easy-listening songs with audiences in Morocco to Egypt to Lebanon, in France, Greece, Israel, and Turkey.

Salma ya salma sung in arabic (Track 6) was played when Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian president went to Israel for peace talks in 1977 – apparently the first arabic song played on israeli radio.

I still have a few more people to read up in the book – Pierre Loti, Colette, Gertrude Stein, Marlene Dietrich, Alfred Hitchcock …  A fascinating book about Morocco, times and people.

We thoroughly enjoyed our somewhat hectic 2 weeks – like always, in retrospect we now wish to have spent more time at certain places or pay closer attention to things we had only a fleeting look. Well, one day we will go back, may be to see Tangier and the Mediterranean coast.

The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles

Two weeks of vacation was a good chunk of time for me (Chris) to start and perhaps finish a book. For this trip to Morocco, my selection was this classic – The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles, published in 1949.

I knew about this book first from the soundtrack for the 1990 movie made by Bernardo Bertolucci starring Debra Winger and John Malkovich, which I never saw. The movie won awards for best cinematography (Vittorio Storaro). It is now on my to-watch list.

The film’s soundtrack was composed mostly by Ryuichi Sakamoto, which won the Golden Globe for best original score. The piano version of the main theme is popular and has appeared in several compilations. I prefer the richer orchestral version, however.

I enjoyed the book and it added another dimension to the trip.

The Sheltering Sky is the cautionary tale of a New York couple trying to find happiness and themselves intellectually, through adventure in a post-World War II North Africa that was politically unstable and disease-ridden. Their fate of losing everything is a warning about the naive, romantic notions of exotic travels and modern nomadism.

Wikipedia summed up the book as a work about alienation and existential despair.

The writing is dark and relentless about the characters’ moods, as was its description of the emptiness and ruthlessness of the desert. Some of the observations on the idea of death are quite apt. For example,

Death is always on the way, but the fact that you don’t know when it will arrive seems to take away from the finiteness of life. It’s that terrible precision that we hate so much. But because we don’t know, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well.

The title of the book probably came from this idea. We also observed that for most days, the sky was cloudless with an even shade of blue.

the sky here’s very strange. I often have the sensation when I look at it that it’s a solid thing up there, protecting us from what’s behind . . . [from] nothing, I suppose. Just darkness. Absolute night.

The attitude of the book’s characters towards everyday tourists surfaces in various degrees in many travel blogs (not ours too ?):

… the tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler belonging no more to one place than to the next, moves slowly over periods of years, from one part of the earth to another. Indeed, he would have found it difficult to tell, among the many places he had lived, precisely where it was he had felt most at home. … [A]nother important difference between tourist and traveler is that the former accepts his own civilization without question; not so the traveler, who compares it with the others, …

The author, Paul Bowles, a 20th century literary cult figure was born in 1910 Queens. He was also well known as a composer, as well as a translator of French literature.

He studied in 1930’s with Aaron Copeland, I liked his Ravel-like piano pieces. His music is bright and dreamy which is totally different from his writing. Try the piece “6 Preludes: No. 6, quater note =54” on this album (track 27).

In a 2009 NY Times article, citing his biography,

… he sat in his room one day as a freshman in Charlottesville and flipped a coin. Heads, he would leave for Europe as soon as possible. Tails, he would take an overdose of pills and leave no note. The coin came up heads.

He started writing The Shelterig Sky in Fes, Morocco and traveled in the Sahara regions of Morocco and Algeria.

Over the years since its publication, he met many cultural elites at the time in the US and Europe, and traveled continuously around the world. He settled in Tangier, Morocco in the 50’s, continuing writing and composing, and lived there until he died in 1999.

I did manage to finish the book in Marrakech on our last day in Morocco.

Book pairings, Winter 2018

In the last few years, we have been posting on various bookstores around the world. If you missed the blog entries, click here for a shortlist of the visited bookstores posted on this site. I(Chris) admits to like loitering in bookstores, browsing, and buying books.

Our interest is not just in the stores that display and sell them. We like books. But admittedly, for various reasons, not many books have been read cover to cover.

Anyway, to make books as a topic a bit more interesting, we will talk about pairs of non-fiction books with a similar theme. To start, we have:

The Shortest History of Europe by John Hirst

and

Europe: A History by Norman Davies

These two books actually inspired us to make this post. First, we are not history buffs.

Europe: A History by Norman Davies was bought initially for a reason. One advantage of living in Europe is that we have more opportunity to visit a rich diversity of churches, historical sites, and castles, etc. Although we use guide books and read descriptions onsite, the information is more often sketchy and does not provide the broader context. Usually, we get the “what” but not the “why”. And we soon forgot what we saw after we left the site. Knowing the history and the bigger picture would make the visits more meaningful and enjoyable.

We liked the idea of a panorama, from the Ice Age to the Cold War. This book does it. It is a hefty 3-pounds, 1400-pages tome.

In Munich’s airport, I (Chris) recently bought The Shortest History of Europe by John Hirst. I was impressed by the first 2 chapters – 50 some pages of an effective overview of the history of classical/medieval Europe (Greek & Roman learning, Christianity and German warriors) and the modern Europe (Renaissance, Enlightenment and Romanticism). The history was told by a focus on explaining the driving forces behind the social trends and events. The remaining chapters explore what made Europe unique.

The plan is to finish the short one and then go to the big book for specific events.

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Next up is a trio of books on languages – quick fix french grammar, Wicked Italian and Learn German in a Hurry. Judging by the titles, one can surmise that we want to learn at least two of these languages in the shortest possible time. All three are official languages of Switzerland (our host country).

We happen to live in a French speaking canton – Vaud. So the French book got the most use. We actually have quite a few more books on learning French but unfortunately the number of books is not a reflection of our competence in the language.

Wicked Italian is a collection of long-form (probably old fashioned and even cute) insults, and it contains some swear words. Vaffanculo! The book is for amusing our Italian friends.

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One of our favorite topics is food.

Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking – The Science and Lore of the Kitchen is a classic first published in 1984. The edition we have has been updated. The book is comprehensive and accurate on food science and practical cooking skills. The appendix has a primer on chemistry. We read it to improve our general culinary knowledge and for its simple explanation on why certain combination of things/techniques would work or not.

Arts & Foods – Rituals since 1851 is a catalogue of an exhibition we saw in the La Triennale di Milano in 2015 as a part of the World Expo. The following blurb sums it up nicely”

… an exhibition that brings attention to the theme of the event: ‘feeding the planet, energy for life’; creating an area for art in the center of the city, outside of the official expo venue. curated by Germano Celant, the exposition investigates the relationship between the arts and different food-related rituals around the world, offering: an historical view of the aesthetic and functional influences eating has had on the language of creativity; while exploring the way in which art in all its forms has dealt with themes of nourishment.

There are in this 960-page book, pictures of special forks used by the cannibals in New Caledonia, images of food in Italian neorealism cinema, as well as essays on design, autocracy, war, famine and migration. It is a smorsgabord.

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About Switzerland, our host country – we bought Swiss Watching by Diccon Bewes. Chris found a copy of Watching the English by Kate Fox at a book swap at work.

We enjoyed reading Diccon Bewes who is a travel writer from the UK and now living in the land of milk and honey (see tag line). The book is funny, insightful, and we can fact-check him.

We have just started with the book about the English. The tag line is The Hidden Rules of English Behavior. The writer herself a Brit and a social anthropologist takes a humorous look at and tries to explain Englishness.

“Every social situation is fraught with ambiguity, knee-deep in complication, hidden meanings, veiled power-struggles, passive-aggression and paranoid confusion.” 

Taken from a section of Goodreads which has a collection of quotes from the book.

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Last but not least, this pair of publications was probably the result of year-end shopping at airports, at least one was bought in the United States. According to the cover, the Onion’s Our Dumb World (Atlas of The Planet Earth) is the 73rd edition, hard cover and comes with 30% more Asia. If you do not know The Onion (America’s finest news source), click here to explore and enjoy.

2018 is a complicated year, a rich time for history writers. It will be interesting to see how much of the observations and prospects discussed in The World in 2018 panned out in reality. Judging by our daily world news, things will get even more unpredictable in 2019.

We encourage all to read more in the new year. We will.

 

Abbey of Saint Gall, St. Gallen

We spent a day in St Gallen, a historic town located in the northeast of Switzerland. It is best known for its university and the Abbey of Saint Gall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983.

The collection of buildings in the abbey precinct including its magnificent Baroque cathedral form a unique historical ensemble. The appearance of the abbey’s buildings is largely the result of constructions in the 18th century.

The west side includes the Baroque church (the present cathedral), flanked by two towers and the ancient cloister, which today houses the Abbey Library.

The city of St. Gallen grew around the Abbey of St Gall, which is said to have been built at the site of the hermitage of Irish missionary Gallus established in AD 612. The abbey followed the Rule of St. Benedict, which prescribes the contemplative study of literature. 

We were in awe of this late baroque Rococo decorations.

The abbey prospered in the 9th century and became a site of pilgrimage and a center of trade, with associated guest houses, stables and other facilities.

As a religious city-states, the abbey joined the Swiss Confederation in 1450s and the town became free from the abbot.

The abbey is an outstanding example of a large Carolingian monastery, represents 1200 years of history of monastic architecture from the Middle Ages.

Confession booths.

The interior of the Cathedral is one of the most important baroque monuments in Switzerland.

Ceiling frescoes.

Scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colors, sculpted molding, and trompe l’oeil frescoes – this church has every element of Rococo.

The Abbey library of Saint Gall (Stiftsbibliothek) is recognized as one of the richest medieval libraries in the world. It is also known as the Seelenapotheke (healing place of the soul). It is home to one of the most comprehensive collections of early medieval books in the German-speaking part of Europe.

There was a guided tour and we were required to wear soft overshoes to protect the floor. 

The two-storeys library, its walls and the balconies are ornately decorated. The library hall designed by the architect Peter Thumb in a Rococo style, was constructed between 1758-67. Bookshelves alternate with window recesses on both levels.

The library holds 2,100 manuscripts dating back to the 8th through the 15th centuries which are handwritten, 1,650 incunabula (printed before 1500), and old printed books. 400 of the handwritten books are over 1000 years old. These manuscripts are placed inside the glass cases.

Of particular interest are a beautiful collection of early medieval Irish manuscripts unique in Continental Europe.

The 2,700 year old Egyptian mummy Shepenese is also housed in the library.

This abbey and the library is really THE place to learn and experience central European history and see Rococo.

25 Bookstores and counting …

We love bookstores and Chris has been posting our visits on the blog. So far we have 25 bookstores from around the world from Moscow to Tokyo. Click the link to see the posts.

Moscow, House of Books

Tokyo, T-site

As much as Amazon is a threat especially to many small bookstores in the US, the bookstores (at least the major ones) have not disappeared outside the US. Thank God.

From the oldest in the world in Lisbon to a super modern store in Sao Paulo – both selling mostly portugese books …

Lisbon, Livraria Bertrand

Sao Paulo, Livraria Cultura at Iguatemi mall

From MIT which publishes academic books on advanced technologies to the Parisian publisher who puts out reprints of early 20th century original (translated) work by Einstein and many other physicists and mathematicians …

Boston, MIT Press

Paris, Edition Jacques Gabay

We will keep this series up.

Hope you find these posts interesting. To find our other posts on bookstores,  just click on books in the Categories on the sidebar of any one of these posts.

Breakthrough Book Gallery 突破書廊, Hong Kong

When I(Chris) was in Hong Kong during Easter, I came across this bookstore.

Breakthrough (突破) was a magazine that was published between 1973 and 1999. When I was in secondary school in Hong Kong, I was a school librarian and flipped through it. The history of the magazine, the social movement and its activities are described here.

Breakthrough is a non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to the education and development of youth culture with a christian viewpoint.

As you enter, you are greeted by this sign which says “re-experiencing the temperature of paper books”.

The organization’s mission is to develop, via media and interpersonal relationship, the city’s youth so that they become leaders of the 21st century.

They are a publisher of chinese language books.

The Book Gallery located near Jordan is one of three bookstores run by the organization.

These are key rings made with resin which resembles the signs used by old Hong Kong taxi and minibus (I think), particularly the font and colors.

Can be custom made with your phrase.

There is a coffee bar with barista service.

They also stocked a small collection of card games and board games, some of them translated from English or German.

The gallery like most shops in Hong Kong is small but it felt open and comfortable. A nice place to rest your feet and browse.

It is rare in Hong Kong to find an establishment like Breakthrough that is doing something meaningful and not entirely commercial.

Eldorado Bokhandel, Oslo

Before we leave Oslo, we have an addition to our bookstore of the world series …

Eldorado Bokhandel is the largest independent bookstore in Scandinavia offering 4,000 square metres of books, culture and music. It is located at Torggata 9A.

The bookstore opened in 2013. The facade is fairly non-descript, narrow and does not reveal much about the store. We almost walked past it.

Eldorado has Norway’s largest departments for children’s books, audio books and classical music, as well as a coffee shop, a back yard restaurant (we did not see as it was winter) and four levels (we did not count).

It had a large collection of classical music by Naxos.

In fact, the layout is a bit confusing as it has several levels and the rooms are not rectangular.

A ramp with ducks in the background.

The atrium space with armchairs were very welcoming.

They have a fair number of English books and it was a very up-to-date selection.

and it included Norwegian literature

In English, a reason to buy books !

… a small theatre with comfy chairs

Drawings of people from around the world on the walls above bookshelves of travel books

.

… a throne from fantasy books ?

Evolution of the Penguin books logo  … cannot remember the context of this poster, maybe it is just a poster for sale.

They were closing at 6 … never figured out what the tall man is about.

Quite a bookstore befitting the name Eldorado.

Donner Books, Rotterdam

Another bookstore … this time in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. This one barely survived.

Donner is located on Coolsingel, in a former bank building, all public areas on one floor. This bookstore and the pride of Rotterdam was swallowed up by a big chain store that unfortunately went bankrupt in 2014.

The Top 10 fictions and non-fictions.

Owing to a successful crowdfunding campaign that raised 250.000 euros, Donner was able to relocate to its current location.  It’s again a proudly independent and well stocked bookshop.

The number one fiction – “The Best Thing We Have” by Griet Op de Beeck.

A nice collection of Lovecraft stories.

Cookbook section

Calendars for 2018.

Like most bookstores these days, they sell a whole lot of other non-printed merchandise, such as collectible objects.

There was an event which just finished. A line of people was waiting for refreshments and perhaps a selfie with the speaker or an autographed book.

 

Old books – several aisles of them.

High-end lifestyle magazines. They look like coffee table photo books without a real topic (except Nez which is a serious perfume magazine), and costs the same or more.

There is something about this bookstore, possibly its slight messiness in full view which made me felt like I was in a public library.

Hope this one survives.

Oldest bookstore in the World – Livraria Bertrand, Lisbon

Continuing with my tour of the world’s bookstores … Livraria Bertrand at Rua Garrett 73 in Lisbon is the oldest and largest bookstore chain in Portugal.

Since it was launched in 1732, the Bertrand Bookstore stayed open, and has thus entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest bookstore in the world still in operation. The business survived earthquakes, revolutions and the recent economic crisis.

The bookstore was founded by a Frenchman in the area of the current store – Baixa. Pierre Bertrand joined the store in 1744.

The earthquake of 1755 destroyed the original store but it returned in 1773 to Rua Garreta where it still operates today.

Later in the twentieth century, the company evolved, changed owners several times. In 1912, ownership of the “Livraria Bertrand” was with the firm ‘Aillaud Bastos & Alves’ editors in Paris, Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro. In 1938, it opened the first bookstore in Porto and, from 1939, Livraria Bertrand had its own printing press.

When I arrived, it was still opened. The closing time is 10:00pm – rare for a bookstore in Europe.

The top 10 fictions and non-fictions – the No. 1 fiction is Dan Brown’s Origin – sans surprise. Very few English books.

Nobel laureate José Saramago’s books are prominently featured (inside and in the window display) as were those by the poet Fernando Pessoa.

The bookstore is all on one floor.

The Bertrand Group owns 53 bookstores in Portugal, a book club, and eight smaller publishers. The company was a subsidiary of giant German media corporation Bertelsmann until 2010, when Bertelsmann sold Bertrand to Porto Editora, Portugal’s biggest publishing house. “Bookstore Bertrand” is thus the name of a network of bookstores across the country.

Law Books

Although the brick-and-mortar bookstore is under threat, Bertrand has managed so far and built an online presence. I read that many Portuguese language books that publishers send overseas are delivered to Africa and nearly half are ordered by customers in Angola.

We saw some big beautiful bookstores in Sao Paulo, Brazil, click here, here and here. You would have thought that they do well in South America, but Bertrand is not there. Apparently, Portugal and its former colonies do not have a standardized literary language (although they speak the same language) which could be used simultaneously in Europe, Africa, and South America. As a result, the works of Portuguese novelists must be “translated” into the Brazilian version of literary Portuguese before they can be marketed in Brazil.

The bookstore has a cafe – Cafe Bertrand with the catchphrase “Taste our books”. It also has its own entrance.

The room is named after the poet Fernando Pessoa who frequented this place with many Portuguese literary luminaries over the years. Notice the typewriter sitting above the wine refrigerator? Just in case if someone is in a creative mood ?

It also has a cute character-based logo in the shape of a cup and saucer.

Keeping the good bookstore tradition alive.

Waterstones, Edinburgh West End

Continuing with our bookstore tour … this one in Scotland

The Waterstones at Edinburgh’s West End is one of four in the city.

The four-floor bookshop is right at the heart of the city, opposite Edinburgh Castle, on the capital’s main shopping street; Princes St.

They have “a large and inviting Children’s department, a robust and exciting events programme, and a Scottish department that reflects the richness and diversity of this country.

Once upon a time …

In my opinion, the most remarkable feature of the bookstore is the staircase that links the four floors.

Parts of the stairs are symmetrical.

More books on Scotland

Want to hike the Highlands ? Here is whole shelf full of maps.

The landing is used very effectively to display books.

Another view of the stairs.

The Café is on the Second Floor …

… with great views of the Castle and Edinburgh skyline.

Books on the English language.

Definitely a great place to linger when it is drizzling outside as it happens frequently in the summer (we have so far experienced except the time when this photo was taken).

Bookstore Librairie, Biarritz

Another entry to our tour of bookstores around the world …

We found this gem of a bookstore in Biarritz.  The bookstore is called “BOOKSTORE”. And to confirm the nature of its business, on the storefront below the name, it says “Librairie Bookstore”.

It is understandable that this establishment at a French beach town is so named in English because historically, many British tourists including royalties like Queen Victoria and King Edward VII spent their vacation at this seaside resort.

On its website, it lists its Summer opening hours which are 1 hour longer and are applicable from July 8 to September 1.  After all, the bookstore is barely a block from the beach – No. 27 Place Clemenceau.

The bookstore is remarkable in that it is really quite small – not much larger than a newsagent that sells only magazines, cigarettes, sodas and chewing gum.

The back of the store has a lower section that sells “livre de poche” – paperback books – perfect for the beach.

The front room has a main area and a set of stairs that lead to a mezzanine level.

There is a “bureau” in the front room as well as at the mezzanine level. These bureaus are essentially little single-person booths where a storekeeper helps customers with payment and questions.

The bureau on the mezzenine level is rather unusual as it is suspended in the airspace (hovers) above the main area. A small souvenir street nameplate stuck on this bureau says “Place de la Contrescarpe” – a square in Paris considered the center of the 5th arrondisement – the Latin Quarter – an area known for scholarly and literary pursuits.

Despite its size, it affords a nice small leather sofa (oversized relative to the floor space) on the mezzanine level.

All the offerings here appear to be quality reading materials – most if not all are in French and we are not yet proficient to understand/gauge – so we judged them by their covers.

Books are displayed three-sixty degrees on all available shelf space, wall space and any flat surfaces.

The store is generously lit by big bright round light bulbs  – without them the space might feel a bit claustrophobic.

We presume the bookstore is fully stocked since we were at the beginning of the tourist season, hence multiple copies of the same book in stacks on display.

One of a kind.

 

Librerie Coop + Eataly, Bologna

In our bookstore tour of the world, we increasingly see the merger of bookselling with another retail concept – for example, the T-site in Daikanyama 代官山 in Tokyo and the Eslite Spectrum in Hong Kong – see our posts here and here. In Bologna, I (Chris) visited the Librerie Coop + Eataly Bologna – a combination that is more 50-50 than the earlier examples.

 

Librerie Coop is a chain in Italian bookstore with more than 30 stores.

 

Eataly is an international operator of food halls selling Italian food stuffs and restaurants – their stores are apparently wildly successful in NYC at first (that was after we left the city) and then in Chicago.

 

Admittedly, we have not yet been inside one in the US but we imagine them to be a kind of European imported food megastore with a high-end food court. The food halls of Harrods (London), Shinsegae (Seoul) and KaDeWe in Berlin (see post) come to mind.

 

The corporate parent is an Italian company founded near Alba and started first in Torino. Apparently, the two companies have collaborated at multiple locations in Italy.

 

The book-food store is located not far from Piazza Maggiore at Via degli Orefici, 19.

 

This location has a cafe, a wine bar…

 

a trattoria …

and an osteria.

I wonder if they will let customer take a book to the table to read while waiting for or consuming his/her order.

The bookstore floor space is tight, although it has several floors. Compare this with the oldest bookstore in Bologna, Libreria A. Nanni which I also visited – see post here.

The space feels intimate and cozy overall. Great idea, well executed.

I read in the news that Eataly will open a food theme park – Eataly World – in Bologna in 2017. It will convert 20 acres of old warehouses into 25 restaurants, 10 classrooms, a convention center, farms, and labs. Buono appetito. Looking forward to it …

Ciao

Libreria A. Nanni, Bologna, Italy

I was visiting Bologna last December. Bologna is famous not only for its pasta sauce and several other foods but also for its porticos. In total, there are over 45 km (28 miles) of arcades, some 38 in the city center. While strolling in the historic center, I came across this bookstore which uses part of the arcade in front of its store front to display books and magazines.

Libreria Nanni is located at Via Dè Musei, 8 – under il Portico della Morte (Portico of Death) – its name arising from the nearby old Hospital of Santa Maria della Morte, which now houses the Archaeological Museum.

The bookstore was founded by the Marchesi family in the early nineteenth century became a reference point for students, scholars and bibliophiles. It was acquired by Arnaldo Nanni in 1900’s. This is the oldest bookstore in the city of Bologna.

It was just 7pm and the store keepers were closing down the store and moving some of the displayed books inside. I quickly wandered inside to look around.

Apparently, this bookstore was frequented by the well-known writer and film director – Pier Paolo Pasolini – murdered in 1975 unfortunately.

The bookstore also specializes in ancient books as well as old and rare magazines and comics – see the shelves behind the counter.

They also sell text books but it is in the back behind the wall of ancient books.

Judging by the age of the stalls, it is quite likely that books and magazines have been displayed this way for many years.

Old Architectural Digest …

comics …

… and travel magazines

If you are curious about bookstore, click here to see a renovated bookstore – Rizzoli – in a central shopping arcade in Milano.

Our next post will be about one of the newest bookstore in Bologna. Don’t miss it.

Librairies, Rive Gauche, Paris – part 2

Continuing from part 1 … as some of you may know, we have been putting up photos of bookstores from around the world. In addition to those posts that are linked in part 1, here are a few more that you can jump to: House of Books in Moscow, Alexandra in Budapest and the MIT Press in Boston.

La Rive Gauche is the left bank or southern bank of the Seine which includes the arrondissements 5 (Latin Quarter), 6 and parts of 7 – generally known for its bohemian and anti-establishment roots. My hotel was right next to the University of Paris, La Sorbonne main building and not far from the Panthéon.

Many of the bookstores are actually publishers – Editions Ivrea evolved from Editions Champ Libre which was founded after the May 1968 student riots in this same area of Paris.

Editions Champ Libre and its founder Gerard Lebovici were famous for their associations with the socialist/communist writers and political movements. Gerard Lebovici was assassinated in the 1980’s.

Just around the corner from my hotel is the Cinema du Panthéon, and down the street is a bookstore dedicated to the arts of film making. By the time I finished my meetings, it was dark already. So do excuse the lack of interior photos and the rather reflective window shots.

It is rare to find a specialist bookstore these days.

Voila – La Librairie du Cinema du Pantheon.

I remember one in the midst of the NY Broadway theaters – 46th between Broadway and 8th Ave ?

It sells movie posters, postcards … and some specialist DVDs are available – films about films.

“Paris In Cinema”, “Ciné Quiz”  … brain food for movie buffs

Monroe and Kubrick books …

A series of monographs published by the Cahier du Cinema, titled “Anatomy of an Actor” – Clooney, Brando, Pacino, Kidman, De Niro.

There are even film books written for kids, and movie guides for age 3-8 and age 9-12 !  – “200 films for you to see before becoming tall”.

There were other specialist bookstores in the area, e.g., philosophy by J Vrin

… Science and fantasy fictions … Galactic stories

… books on Asia

and law books by Dalloz.

Among all these bookstores is a shop that provide photocopying and digital scanning services.

I am sure there are a lot more bookstores in the area but I had to leave … my French needs to get better first before I come back to browse.

 

Fin

Bookstores, Left Bank, Paris – part 1

As some of you may know, we have been putting up photos of bookstores from around the world. This is another bunch to add to the pile. If you are curious, do click on the side bar and browse the filtered selections. Or jump to Rizzoli in Milano, T-site in Daikanyama, Tokyo, Livraria Cultura in Iguatemi, Sao Paulo, and Waterstones in Central London to start.

Last year, I (Chris) had a business meeting in Paris near the university, La Sorbonne. Understandably, the area when I was staying is full of bookstores and publishers. So it was quite convenient for me to snap all these pictures.

Due to the lack of time, the time of day of my walkabout and the weekend (they all close on Sunday), I really did not have much chance to enter the bookstores and browse – hence, the lack of interior photos and the rather reflective window shots.

All these bookstores are all within 10 minutes walk max from each other.

Livres

Editions Cassini publishes science books for the general public and those who are just curious about science.

In its window were work by Richard Feynman on planetary movements, and books about The Prisoner’s Dilemma (Game theory), the beauty of mathematical formulas, and John Maynard Smith’s evolutionary biology (also based on Game theory).

Editions Jacques Gabay publishes hardcore, academic mathematics and physics books by famous scientists – e.g., Einstein – the man himself.

See their publications on the Theory of General Relativity, Tensor Calculus, Theory of Electrons, etc. – all fundamentals of modern physics. Just having these books on your shelf will increase your IQ.

It was not all maths and sciences – on another street, there is Classiques Garnier. Since 1896, they have been publishing literary works of from around the world, French and foreign, ancient and modern, in reference editions.

Some French classics – e.g., poems in latin by Victor Hugo. If you are curious, download their 200-page general catalogue here. One can find classics from as early as the middle ages and Renaissance reprinted in paperback for a lot less than 100 euro.

Librairie des petits Platons –  publishes children’s books.

There is a shop that buys/sells old and perhaps rare books and second hand books … funny that there was a recycling bin in front of it.

I have been learning some French but by no means effective and definitely, my current ability does not allow me to enjoy these books.

Perhaps I was not in the right places in the US, never have I seen so many bookstores in one area and there are so many publishers who also run a brick-and-mortar store with a street front.

More to come in part 2 !

The Eslite Spectrum 誠品生活, Hong Kong

We were visiting Hong Kong during the Christmas period. One store that we went to multiple times on this trip is The Eslite Spectrum store in Star House星光行, Tsim Sha Tsui.

Its location just happened to be near the places that we were visiting and it is just a nice place to have a coffee while waiting for friends.

Not only it sells Chinese and English books and magazines, it is a full-fledged lifestyle store.

Hong Kong is very much filled with designer boutiques, department stores, malls packed with brand names along side tiny mom-and-pop shops, and even pop up stores. Eslite spectrum is a big bookstore with smaller stores/stalls/counters inside.

On its website, it says “visitors can browse their way through the store’s inspiring reading landscape to explore and create their own version of the good life.”

Mixing books and magazines with other lifestyle products is a current global retail trend – a bazaar selling books side by side with eye glasses, stationary, bags as well as house plants, cameras and even organic groceries.

Farm direct.

Wooderful Life sells a range of small wooden figurines. There is a fun display of scenaries with moving figurines.

One can choose pieces to build a scene, including battery-powered base and magnetic pieces which move around the base.

The cafe in Eslite Spectrum is rather small. Local old fashion metal shutters are used as decoration. It looked like the decoration is put there to hide an unsightly column – after all, the building is at least 40-plus years old.

While in Tokyo, we went to the T-site “bookstore” in Daikanyama by Tsutaya which has a similar idea (see post here). It had the most gorgeous space for a coffee shop in a bookstore. Tsutaya has just opened their first bookstore in Taiwan (January 2017). Eslite will have some serious competition.

Eslite Bookstore was established in 1989. The first shop was located in Dunhua South Road, Daan District, Taipei, with a focus and emphasis on art and humanities-related books.

It was the first to set up a 24-hour bookstore in Taiwan at its Dunhua store and later in Hong Kong, attracting lots of night-time readers.

Freeze-dried fruits, vegetables and even shitake mushrooms – we bought a huge jar of it.

In Hong Kong, the first Eslite bookstore opened in Causeway Bay in 2012. This 3-storey store in Star House opened in 2015. It stocks 200,000 books and 80,000 lifestyle items.

Eslite as a brand is branching into the hotel and home interior businesses – specializing in warm, modern and sophisticated spaces for living and reading. Love it.