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| 2899 Bouquinistes on the banks of the Seine, with Notre Dame de Paris in background |
The Bouquinistes of Paris are booksellers of used and antiquarian books who ply their trade along large sections of the banks of the Seine: on the right bank from the Pont Marie to the Quai du Louvre, and on the left bank from the Quai de la Tournelle to Quai Voltaire. The Seine is thus described as "the only river in the world that runs between two bookshelves". This tradition began around the 16th century with little market peddlers. Under pressure from booksellers, a settlement of 1649 prohibited stalls and the display of books on the Pont Neuf.
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| 2900 Bouquinistes on Tournelle Quai, with Notre Dame de Paris in background |
The traditional emblem of the second-hand booksellers is "a lizard looking at a sword"In 1859, concessions were implemented by the city of Paris and the bouquinistes are permitted to be established at fixed points. The openings are from sunrise to sunset. Finally, in 1930 the dimensions of the boxes were fixed. Installed along more than three kilometres of the Seine, the 240 bouquinistes make use of 900 green boxes to house some 300,000 old books and a very great number of journals, stamps and trading cards.
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