BOOKSTORES AROUND THE WORLD

From the legendary City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco to the Cairo bookshop-boutique, the 50 kilometers of shelving at Foyles in London, the iconic Shakespeare and Co in Paris, the Neo-Gothic Lello bookstore in Porto, or the labyrinthine Xidan in Beijing, this ambitious book showcases the variety of bookstores around the world.

Considered "essential" by the French government during the 2021 lockdown, these spaces for selling and promoting books, rich in a millennial history (the bookstore as we know it is attested in Athens in the 5th and 6th centuries BCE), have evolved over time, adapting to changes in publishing, political fluctuations, commercial imperatives, and new forms of social interaction.

By presenting nearly 250 bookstores—both historical and contemporary—the authors invite readers on a world tour that reflects the vitality of this cultural cornerstone.