SOURCE: Cody, E. Morrill. “Shakespeare and Company—Paris: Successfully Selling English Books on a French Side Street.” Publishers Weekly 12 (12 April 1924): 1261-63.

[In the following essay, Cody outlines the arrangement and operation of Shakespeare and Company, the bookshop owned and operated by Sylvia Beach in Paris.]

Tucked away in a little narrow street leading up to the Odeon in Paris, hangs a sign on which is painted the head of one Shakespeare, poet and dramatist. Behind the sign is a small American bookshop whose influence on the book-loving people of the Latin quarter and on the English and American writers of Paris, is yearly becoming greater.

“Shakespeare and Company” is the intriguing name that Miss Silvia Beach has given to her library, for she claims there is more real “Shakespeare” in Paris today than there has been in Stratford-on-Avon in a hundred years. Overlooking the bookshelves of her shop hangs a large engraving of Shakespeare looking down with kindly interest on the rich and the humble who pore over the volumes of what is termed “the best literature.”

Miss Beach's bookshop is essentially a “character” store, the brown burlaped walls, the grotesque Chinese goldfish, the pair of brass scales (just as tho books were sold by the pound as they were in the olden days), and the feeling of old wood, homeliness, comfort, always clean without being shiny. But Silvia Beach is the principal character. Here is a rendezvous for the writers of today and tomorrow, each an inspiration to the other. There is an air of seriousness and witty intelligence about the shop that attracts those lovers of literature who consider books in the light of living characters rather than plots that turn out happily or unhappily.

The writers have brought their friends and admirers. Shakespeare has made them welcome; all can sit by the hour reading any book they fancy; they pick the books off the shelves just as they would pick them off the shelves of their own library. Miss Beach rarely urges anyone to buy a book that is unknown to him. Read it first, she suggests, then if you like it, buy it. If the author is in Paris, perhaps she will introduce you to him. Miss Beach is always sympathetic, kindly, witty, and has a thoro knowledge of the books she sells, can discuss them with the highly read and with the slightly read.

The author who is best known in connection with this shop, is James Joyce, the author of Ulysses. Miss Beach arranged for the publication of this book after it was banned in America. The shop is full of associations of Joyce, many photographs, the stick which was his inseparable companion for years. Mr. Joyce with his strikingly good-looking face, has indeed attracted many people to the shop.

THE LENDING LIBRARY

Three of the four large bookcases in the shop contain books for the lending library, which is the main feature of Shakespeare and Company. Miss Beach points out with scorn that in a public library the borrower of a book cannot purchase the books he likes, but must return them on a set date and wait perhaps weeks, before taking them out again. Miss Beach has no system for lending—a system would spoil the intimacy of the library. When a new subscriber joins, a card is filled in with the person's name and address. This is kept on file, while another card is given to the subscriber showing the date of expiration of his subscription. When the subscriber takes out a book, the name and date are entered on the first card only. When he returns the book and takes out a new one, the new title and date are marked. On the inside of the front cover of each book is an ex libris with the name of the shop and a drawing of Shakespeare. There are no other formalities, no numbers, no cards for the subscriber to worry about, no references required. No more books are lost by this method than in the more complicated systems—less, if anything. The lack of formality appeals strongly to all American patrons.

The deposit required is less than a dollar, except on old and rare editions. The fee of fifty cents per month entitles the subscriber to one book at a time and as many different books as he desires. By subscribing for a year the fee is reduced to a little over four dollars. Miss Beach has about one hundred subscribers whose fees are enough to cover her expenses, and what profit she makes is on the sale of new books.

PATRONS LARGELY FROM HUMBLE CLASSES

The shop has all kinds of patrons, the youngest subscriber is four and a half years old, and she picks out such books as the Jungle Book to have her nurse read to her. Another subscriber is nine years old and comes in for a new book practically every day. Every time he comes Miss Beach thinks that she has exhausted the supply of books that will interest him, but he always finds a new one. The only requirement is that the book be “right to the point.” Another subscriber is so old that he must be carried in on a wheel chair.

Miss Beach has not located her shop in a particularly convenient neighborhood, but rather selected the place because of the interesting character of the district, it being in the oldest part of Paris, full of quaint narrow streets, beautiful arched doorways, and moss-covered stone courts. Miss Beach is convinced that only the people really interested in books, buy them and those people will come from any part of the city, no matter how far it may be.

In fact Miss Beach has all the theories that so many booksellers would like to believe, but nearly always sacrifice because of “financial interest.” In Shakespeare and Company these theories are put in practice, and they work! It does not follow, however, that they would work anywhere else.

About half of the people who come to the shop are French who prefer to read English literature in the original. Many of these people are themselves writers and bring to the patrons of the shop a thoro knowledge of the best in French literature.

The patrons of Shakespeare and Company are largely of the humble classes, the students and the artists. Miss Beach does not believe that a bookshop in the more fashionable districts would be a success. To illustrate her belief she tells of a fashionable lady who drove up to the shop in her car, accompanied by her daughter, age fourteen. The daughter asked for a copy of Alan Seegar's poems.

“Mamma, may I have this book,” said the daughter pointing to a recently published diary.

“No! I told you you could have only one book, and now you have it.”

“But, mother, I want it very much.” They argued as they went out the door. “May I have it instead of the manicure set?” This suggestion brought horrified exclamations from the mother. Eventually the book was bought.

“But,” says Miss Beach, “how many prefer the manicure set! And even if they do prefer the book, how many can fight against their training?”

When “Ulysses” was first published, it sold for 150 francs. The wealthy people invariably objected to the price as being too high, but the students never complained, and one was known to have stayed in bed for four days, so as not to arouse an appetite, in order to buy a copy.

GOING CONTRARY TO MANY RULES

In establishing her shop, Miss Beach has been greatly aided by her friend, Mlle. Adrienne Monnier, who has a bookstore across the street from Shakespeare and Company. It is thus that Miss Beach has been able to avoid all the complications of French red tape. It is doubtful if she could have even rented a place of business without Mlle. Monnier's assistance, as landlords are not fond of renting to foreigners, especially during these days of housing shortage. But now Miss Beach is firmly established and is held in high respect by her neighbors.

It is interesting to note that Mlle. Monnier opened the first lending library in France just a few years ago. It is a great success and today there are two or three others.

Miss Beach is very appreciative of the cooperation that she has received from the publishers in America in allowing her easy methods of purchase and liberality in discounts. The English publishers are much more strict, requiring full payment in advance and only twenty-five per cent discount. French publishers allow a third discount and will deliver books on monthly deposit. The bookseller may return at the end of each month books for which he thinks he has no market.

The duty on books coming into France is not high, being one and one-tenth per cent. But the increased cost of obtaining them is in the time it takes to get them thru the customs. Sometimes it is necessary to wait in line for several hours and then to take the books home by taxi for lack of other means of transit. Miss Beach's only assistant, a little Greek girl, spends easily half her time in these formalities.

One of the first things that struck me on entering the shop was that no prices are marked in any of the books. When someone wishes to buy a book, Miss Beach figures out the price from the American or English price on the basis of current rates of exchange. If the price were already marked in the book, the purchaser might feel that it was rather high without realizing that it was the home price translated into francs.

The high rate of exchange makes the purchase of American books prohibitive for many over here, but on the other hand the favorable exchange is drawing more and more Americans to Paris, many of whom sacrifice other things that they may have around them the books they need and love.

Shakespeare and Company is a unique bookshop, going contrary to many of the principles laid down for the “successful bookseller,” but it is making a success, slowly but surely, just the same. And that success will have in it something much finer than the mere sale of books. It will have given aid and encouragement to many writers who might otherwise have been lost in the shuffle, and will have given to many readers a new angle on the personality and intimacy of books and their authors.