The Bouquinistes Displayed!

Photographer Alain Lecornu celebrates the “bouquinistes des quais de Seine”, in Paris, France, and their recent “victory” over modernity with a beautiful project—and guess what, it’s a book!

Books, especially old ones, have lost a lot of ground since the discovery of the New Digital World—to be honest, the future of the civilization of the written word doesn’t look so bright these days. So when the city of Paris, France, suggested to remove the “bouquinistes” historical boxes from the quays of the Seine River for the opening ceremony of the Olympic games last summer in Paris (see our article: www.rarebookhub.com/articles/3441), many booklovers perceived it as an additional threat to their world. Led by Jérôme Callais, head of ACBP (Association Culturelle des Bouquinistes de Paris), the “bouquinistes” put up a fight, and eventually forced the city of Paris to back down—a victory, no doubt (see our article: www.rarebookhub.com/articles/3564). And was there a better way to celebrate, both their victory and their way of life, than putting out... a book?

The book isn’t available yet—as a matter of fact, it hasn’t been fully funded yet as its author Alain Cornu has only recently opened the project on the kisskissbankbank website. Anyone can contribute. It will mainly be a photo book of 248 pages taken by Cornu between 2021 and 2024, the vast majority them (168) being portraits, others being sceneries with the boxes and books. Cornu describes it as “both a photographic and historical survey, and a living testimony of a corporation.” The historian Angélique Jolivet took care of the historical contents, reminding us that the “bouquinistes” are on the quays since the mid-16^th century, and that they’ve played a key role in spreading ideas all through the centuries.

Lecornu plans to print 1,000 copies, and to do so, he needs to collect €15,000 before the end of December. “If we collect more money,” he says, “we’ll print more copies.” The idea behind this book is explained on the website: “The bouquinistes have been the subject of various writings over the years, but they’ve never been exhaustively photographed with the idea of linking the past with the present. As their economical situation is challenged by the growing importance of digital media and screens, and following their recent fight for survival with the Olympic Games, it was natural for Lecornu to support them with this patrimonial work.”

This is more than a coffee table book, then—the pictures look great and the whole project is quite relevant. Ironically, this physical book will hardly see the light without the help of the Internet, but if this is a war then every battle won is a step forward (or at least, a step backward avoided).

Various packages are offered, depending on your donation. The regular book will cost you 41 euros in advance, but you may get an original photograph with it for €180, or a collector pack for €380, or even the full pack for €1200. As we say in France: c’est pour la bonne cause !

Thibault Ehrengardt

More details on the book: www.kisskissbankbank.com/fr/projects/bouquinistes