Underground & cool · Bookshops · 5 picks · 4 districts

Bookshops in Paris

Historic English-language bookshops, independents and the open-air booksellers along the Seine. Free to browse, and each re-checked for continued operation.

Last re-checked 22 Sep 2026 · all underground & cool → · full ledger →

★Essentials — start here (1)

• ★ Librairie Galignani€ · Historic bookshop · 1erThe oldest English-language bookshop on the Continent, trading on rue de Rivoli since 1856 and run by six generations of the same family. Dark 1930s shelving holds around fifty thousand titles under the arcade; the fine-arts section is what regulars come for.✓ Verified open · 9 Sep 2026Mon–Sat 10am–7pm; closed SunAmong the oldestLong-running

1er · Louvre & Les Halles (1)District guide →

• ★ Librairie Galignani€ · Historic bookshopThe oldest English-language bookshop on the Continent, trading on rue de Rivoli since 1856 and run by six generations of the same family. Dark 1930s shelving holds around fifty thousand titles under the arcade; the fine-arts section is what regulars come for.✓ Verified open · 9 Sep 2026Mon–Sat 10am–7pm; closed SunAmong the oldestLong-running

3e · Haut Marais (1)District guide →

• Ofr.€ · Bookshop & galleryAlexandre and Marie Thumerelle's bookshop in the Haut-Marais, the supply line for independent fashion, photography, design and art magazines from Seoul to São Paulo. A small gallery behind it runs rolling exhibitions and launches.✓ Verified open · 20 Sep 2026Daily 10am–8pm

5e · Latin Quarter (2)District guide →

• Shakespeare and Company€ · Independent bookshopGeorge Whitman's English-language bookshop, opened in 1951 opposite Notre-Dame. Narrow stairs, beds among the shelves where 'Tumbleweeds' have slept since the 1950s, a piano, a wishing well and a reading library upstairs — a bookshop and a stubborn anachronism at once.✓ Verified open · 22 Sep 2026Mon–Wed 10am–8pm, Thu–Sat to 9pm, Sun 12–7pmLong-running
• Les Bouquinistes de la Seine€ · Open-air booksellersRoughly 900 wagon-green boxes bolted to the river parapets, worked by licensed second-hand dealers in books, old prints and postcards. Recognised in 2019 as French intangible heritage, and defended in 2024 when a plan to remove them for the Olympics was overruled.✓ Verified open · 18 Sep 2026Daily ~11am–sunset, weather depending

6e · Saint-Germain-des-Prés (1)District guide →

• The Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore€ · Independent bookshopPenelope Fletcher's English-language bookshop, facing the Luxembourg gardens — a tightly chosen Left Bank selection of literary fiction, poetry, small-press and food writing, with the bilingual children's offshoot next door.✓ Verified open · 22 Sep 2026Daily; hours vary