European Holiday 2025 - Paris, France

I amour Paris.  It's such a beautiful city with so much history, so many amazing buildings (and towers), and so many baguettes, croissants and chocolate eclairs.

This is our fourth visit, and each time we've booked a different hotel, but always in the Latin Quarter near the Pantheon.  It's close to the universities and many, many book stores.

The thing is, French language James Bond paperbacks have always been an anomaly to me.  Sure I already have around ten currently sitting on shelves amongst my Bond collection, some written by Ian Fleming and others by continuation authors like John Gardner, Jeffrey Deaver or William Boyd.  But the early 1950's and 1960's Ian Fleming titles, mostly published by Plon in my opinion weren't the most adventurous cover images of the period.  Feel free to disagree.

Nevertheless I've been searching for a 1970's series published by Plon that usually features a single woman on the cover.  However they don't seem to be easy to find in good condition.  Here's some of the covers as taken from the great Illustrated 007 website which is sadly no longer updated by Peter Lorenz.

My hunt in Paris started at what I consider to be the best Paris second-hand bookstore; Amour le Noire.  Here they had plenty of Bond paperbacks, as usual, but none of the series I'm searching for.  Pity as I really wanted to spend a few Euros in this store.  They still had hundreds of other crime novels and thrillers for other people out there.

My second favourite book store in Paris has to be Shakespeare & Company.  The thing is, now it's become such a tourist attraction it's almost impossible to even make it inside the store without spending 20 to 30 minutes in a tourist line out the front first.  I'm pleased for the store owners though and hope that book (and merch) sales are very profitable.

The third second-hand book store in Paris, that's a must for book afficianados, is Abbey's Bookshop.  This store feels a deep cavern crammed with English language books.  It's cramped and always seems to be full of potential customers.  Navigating to the rear of the store where the thrillers are, or down the thin staircase to the lower level, should be accompanied by a certificate of achievement by the owner(s).  It's exactly how many old second-hand book shops used to be before they disappeared in Australia.

Two other notable bookstores in Paris are Gibert, which has so much floor space it's incredible and is a clear sign that books are alive and well in France...

... and Boulinier which has thousands of second-hand (occasional) books for sale.

You'll not miss either store if you're staying near the Latin Quarter of Paris.

Here's a small smattering of other book stores we encountered during our travels around the city:

And finally, Paris in all it's glory:

The Arc de Triomph

The Eiffel Tower

The Pantheon

Notre Dame

The Louvre

Jardin de Luxembourg

Place de la Concorde