The legendary English-language bookstore Shakespeare & Company was relaunched in 1951 by George Whitman, he has continued the legacy of Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare and Company bookstore originally established in 1921. The bookstore unlike any other housed a bed on the third floor, Gertrude Stein, Hemingway, and Pound were frequent visitors; until the store closed due to the war. George was an American in Paris who decided to stay on in Paris, rather than return to America at the end of WWII, and was happy to rejuvenate Shakespeare and Company. (And, in turn, rejuvenated himself after war service and living to the grand age of 98 years). Set in the Parisian creative quarter, perfectly situated in the heart of Paris on the Left Bank, opposite Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris. This bookstore is like no other! It’s a kind of sanctuary, George, like Sylvia Beach before, openly welcomes writers; aspiring writers and artists. George’s kindness and hospitality beckoned and attracted writers like William Burroughs and Henry Miller, Lawrence Durrell and Allen Ginsberg. For its history and generosity, it is undoubtedly the most famous bookstore in the world.
“When a bookstore opens its doors, the rest of the world enters, too, the day’s weather and the day’s news, the streams of customers, and of course the boxes of books and the many other worlds they contain—books of facts and truths, books newly written and those first read centuries before, books of great relevance and of absolute banality. Standing in the middle of this confluence, I can’t help but feel the possibility of the universe unfolding a little, once upon a time.” The Yellow Lighted Bookshop (by Lewis Buzbee).
Shakespeare & Co is now managed by Sylvia Whitman, George Whitman's daughter.
