When I was stranded in Paris, there were two things that could be regarded as my pleasure in the love of detention: one was to look at paintings, and the other was to visit books. On boring afternoons or evenings in Soju, I always go out and spend my belated time in the galleries and the bookstalls along the river. Regarding the former, I would like to mention in another short article, and here, I just want to talk about the pleasure of visiting books.
In fact, it is better to say that it is "visiting books", it is better to walk along the riverside or go in and out of the old book shops in the streets and alleys. I don't have the intention of looking for any strange books, and besides, it's no longer time to dig out a copy of Patissier franco-is in a wooden box of two copper dollars. The reason why I did this was nothing more than for my own preference, that is, to watch the sama and return empty-handed, and my selfishness was also very satisfying, and besides, the Seine River in the twilight was so slender and colorful!
I stayed on Rue del'Echaudé, a three-minute walk along the Rue de la Seine to the bookstall by the Seine. But I don't take this shortcut, and when I walk like this, the galleries on Seine Road will always hold me back, and besides, I have a habit of seeing the end from beginning to end, and I would rather take a long walk along Jocob Road and University Road all the way to Buck Road, and then from Buck Road to Wangqiaotou.
The bookstalls on the left bank of the Seine began there, and from there to the Pont du Garuselle, which can be regarded as the first strip of the bookstalls, although it is located in the 7th arrondissement of the aristocracy of Paris, it does not smell of the crown at all. The bookstalls in this area can be roughly divided into these categories: the first are those that sell cheap new books, most of which are sold in various bookstores, and the prices are really fair, but you are required to bargain, such as J. Renard's "Diary" in the second-hand bookstore, which sells for five or six hundred francs, where you can buy them for only two hundred francs, and they are brand new. My translation of Serf Fredrie's "Exemplary Novels" and the entire "Europa Magazine Series" were bought from there. This kind of book can be found elsewhere, but not in this area. The second is the sale of English books, which probably has something to do with the nearby Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Oleon East station. However, there were not many buyers of these English books, so it was not uncommon to spend two or three francs to bring a first edition of "A Man in the Garden of Animals" back to his apartment from the deserted stalls. The third is the sale of authentic ancient books, such as the seventeenth-century sheepskin calligraphy, the eighteenth-century flowered spine book, etc., which are carefully placed in glass bookcases, locked, and cannot be read arbitrarily, and other ancient books of inferior value are piled up in wooden boxes. I really don't know what to do with this pile of old stuff that you're squeezing around me. This kind of bookstall is a little more lively, and most of the people who buy books are middle-aged or elderly. If the bookseller knows that the books are valuable, you will be knocked by him, and if he does not know the goods, you will get a bargain. I once bought a copy of the early 1765 edition of Du Laurens' Imirce from a shrewd bookseller in the area for five francs, and I am still proud of it: firstly because Imirce was a forbidden book, and secondly because it was too cheap. The fourth category is those who sell books, there are only one or two of these bookstalls in this area, and the so-called booksellers are actually only superficial, and there is nothing great in their bones, most of them are modern people's things, to deceive people. I remember that the first bookstall near Wangqiao was of this kind, and the proprietress was a wife in her forties and fifties, and when I stayed for a while, she took me as a good customer and encouraged me to buy it, which made me leave a very bad impression, and then I stayed away. In fact, those authentic "secret" books, if you don't want to pay a lot of money, you still have to go to the corners to find them, I once found a lot of waste books in a Jewish-owned broken store, and I found a copy of Cleland Fanny Hill in the original text, and I bought it back for only one franc, which is really unexpected.
From the Garusel Bridge to the Pont Neuf Bridge, it can be regarded as the second strip of the bookstalls. In this area, the influence of the art school and the numismatic bureau on the opposite side is significant. Here, the bookstall owner also sells board paintings, and sometimes the small bookstall is full of dazzling colors, etching carvings of the original, illustrations removed from books, posters of the theater, color pictures of flowers, birds and beasts, maps, landscapes, large and small, all kinds of colors, but the books are secondary. It is rare for us to come across any of these bookstalls, all of which are worn out and dusty, and a large part of them are useless textbooks, catalogues from exhibitions and art dealers' auctions. In addition, in this area, we can also find two stalls that sell old coins and coats of arms but do not sell books, sandwiched between the bookstalls, making a very special decoration. I always look forward to these stalls selling paintings and coins, (I remember one day a France friend pulled me to stay in front of these coin stalls for a long time, he looked at them with relish, but I was really very uncomfortable, and when I walked along the river, I always didn't want to be with others.) However, there are also one or two good bookstalls in the area. A stall is set up by an old man, not that his books are particularly rich than others, but that he is very kind, and he has made many successful deals. I have a copy of Le Grund Ecurt, signed by Coclc-au and given to the poet ·Fernand Divoire, from whom I bought it at a very low price, and the first edition of Opera, which I bought at the Garimar bookstore, autographed by Getcor as a gift to the poet Fargue, cost me seventy francs. But I believe he lent it to me, because the book was sealed in wax paper, and he did not open it to look at it; When he saw the dedication, he probably wouldn't have sold it to me so cheaply. The other stall was set up by a young man, and the selection of books was quite exquisite, most of them were first editions and rare copies of modern works, so they were often patronized by me. All I knew was that the young man's name was Underlai, because his peers called him so, and he was very slick, and he said that he knew the bookstores well, and that he could get good back-door goods at a good price, and that he could try to get any books that customers wanted. But when I asked him to get a copy of "The Complete Works of Gide", he never got it for me.
The third zone can be zoned from the Pont Neuf through the San Michael field to the Pont Petit. This section is the most prosperous of the bookstalls on the left bank of the Seine. In this area, the bookstalls are more neat, and they are a little more convenient, and the wives have nothing to do at home to come here to find a few novels for leisure, and there are also; Students are greedy for cheap and want to come here to buy textbooks and reference books, and there are also; Literature and art lovers come here to find a few newly published books, and there are also; Scholars who want to study books, bibliophiles who want rare books, and curious hunters who want to treasure secretaries can all be satisfied in this area. In this area, the price of books is higher than elsewhere, but it is always cheaper than buying in a second-hand bookstore. Brother Kengo searched for a long time to find a copy of the Diary of Gongol in a second-hand bookstore in Saint-Michael, and he rejoiced in it for six hundred francs, thinking that it was very cheap, but soon after I found the same one at a bookstall in the neighborhood, and the binding was much more elaborate, and the price was only two hundred and fifty francs, which made him regret it. But this kind of thing is something that can be encountered but not sought, people who run old book stalls should not have any certain purpose first, and secondly, they should have leisure and patience, and they will turn over more if they are vigorous, and when they are tired, they will look at the bustling pedestrians on the street, and look at the quiet passing water of the Seine River next to them, otherwise they will run with sore legs and sweat, and they will be dizzy, and they will still go back without results. Now that the rest of the story is far away, let's talk about the bookstalls in this area. I am not talking nonsense when I say that the books in this area are more expensive than those in other areas, such as the whole set of Echan-ges magazines, which cost fifteen francs in the first zone, but here there must be twenty, and one less is not sold; At that time, Celine's Voyageau boutde la nuit, which was originally published at twenty-four francs, had to be bought there for eighteen francs, which was only seventy-fifty percent off the original price. These situations can sometimes be infuriating, but in order to read them, they have to buy them back. The highest prices are the two stalls that specialize in textbooks and reference books near St. Michael's Field. In order to use it, students also have to bite the bullet to buy it, which is cheaper than buying new books. I've never been a patron of these stalls, but they have been my patron. Because I always sell reference books that I don't need when I'm bored. Here, I'll be fair: they do pay a little more than the Tibers. There is only one stall in this area that sells rare books of modern times, and it is not far from the small bridge after the St. Michael's field. The stall owner is a middle-aged man who doesn't talk much, and the price is not very expensive, but as soon as he opens his mouth, you don't want to bargain: even if you promise you, there is a limited difference, so looking at the "Complete Works of Borust", the full translation of the illustrated "Arabian Nights", and the Calligrammes of Apollinaire illustrated by Chirico, I have to blush. There seem to be more poetry collections in this area than elsewhere, and you can buy a copy for four or five francs for the famous ones, and for the newer poets, you just have to look for them in a wooden box of one franc or even fifty centimes. My 100-copy book of Jean Gris's illustrated Reverdy's The Sleeping Guqin, the surrealist poet Gui Rosey's Thirty Years' War, and so on, were all dug out of these cheap wooden boxes. Also, I forgot to mention that there are one or two bookstores in this area that specialize in sheet music, but I'm a layman and have never been to the school.
The section from the small bridge to the Suri Bridge can be regarded as the fourth and final zone of the bookstall along the river. From here on, the bookstalls gradually became cold. In the vicinity of the Pont you may find a little more than you need, for example, there is a stall with a large number of books published by N.R.F. and Crassct, but the proprietress is so hard at bargaining that a book priced at fifteen francs will always cost you twelve or thirteen francs, and she often thinks that she is a good writer, and that any of the great modern writers she thinks, such as Mori Xiangke, Moloa, Ayme, etc., will knock you out a bamboo bargain and refuse to give in at all; On the other hand, the works of good writers such as Larbo, Juonto, Lattigee, Alang, etc., she will sell them to you cheaply. Walking through the area of the small bridge, the situation deteriorated. At first, although there were no good books, they could always maintain the dignity of the bookstalls along the river, but later, there were also those who sold dilapidated popular fiction magazines, old teaching materials and useless waste paper, and when they came to the area of Suri Bridge, there were even those who sold broken copper and iron, old furnishings, and fake antiques; As for the owners of the stalls, they looked no different from the clochards who drank squeezing, fishing, or taking naps on the banks of the Seine below. By this time, when the luck of the bookstalls on the Left Bank of Paris is exhausted, your legs are tired, and your eyes are tired, if you still have money in your pocket, you can go to the little coffee shop at the Boulevard Saint-Germain for a while, drink a cup of hot coffee, and then open up your harvest along the way, and rub it in advance, or if you have poured your pocket, then you will go up to the Pont de la Beard, leaning against the railing, and looking down on the sorrowful and saturated bells of Notre-Dame, the steady flow of the Seine, Then, in the early days of the lanterns, it is also an economical and poetic way to go back slowly.
Speaking of which, I am talking about the bookstalls on the left bank of the Seine, and the right bank, although there are two sections from the Pont Neuf to the Chadle field, and from the Chadle field to the vicinity of the town hall, they are not as important as the left bank because of the relationship between tradition, because of the relationship of position, and because of the relationship of goods. I only stopped by when I had finished walking through the bookstalls on the Left Bank or when I came out of Louvre, and although I found occasional discoveries, such as Challa's L'homme approximatif or Henri Rousseau's paintings, it was a matter of great chance; Usually, I either go home empty-handed, or I am attracted by the fish, insects, flowers and birds shops on the street. Therefore, it was also a matter of going to "visit the book" and ended up buying a red-headed finch back.