Paris in summer is at its best. The weekend we spent there was most restful. We were in a quiet area, in a hotel just off Park Georges Brassens in the 15th Arrondissement. We spent the afternoon there, either walking or lying on the grass.
On one side of the park, which is built on the site of a horse market, there is a market for second-hand books. To our surprise next to one of the stalls there was a little board indicating that the books were being sold by weight. 5 Euros per kilo, the board said.
The rare books were on one side. There were even important issues of well known magazines. We could have spent the entire afternoon just looking at the covers of these books. Some of them were printed in the 1940s and 50s.
Are books going to slowly die a natural death? Will people read everything on the internet? Will books one day become objects that are collected? One thing is clear – books are beginning to circulate. They are resold, sometimes at throwaway prices, and more easily given away.
This can only be good news to those who love reading books because if one waits long enough all the expensive books which seem so out of reach will one day become easily available.
