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blackswaneuroparedux · 1 year

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Be not inhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise.

- W.B. Yeats

This is the quote from W.B. Yeats as a painted sign on the wall as you enter the famous bookstore Shakespeare and Company in Paris.

Strangers always found a welcome at Shakespeare and Company, where they could browse untroubled for hours, especially if they were aspiring writers themselves; and a few – well, a very few – of them may indeed have turned out to be angels, or at least angelic.

The original Shakespeare and Company shop was started in 1921 in the Rue de l’Odéon by Sylvia Beach, the daughter of a US Presbyterian minister. The first writer to patronise the shop was Gertrude Stein, but she fell out with Beach when she took up with James Joyce, whom Stein hated.

Beach published Joyce’s Ulysses when no established publisher would touch it, performing the arduous labour of love of proofreading it. Ernest Hemingway discovered the shop soon after his arrival in Paris, and wrote about it lovingly decades later in A Moveable Feast. When the Germans occupied Paris, Beach refused to sell a signed copy of Finnegans Wake to an invading officer. He said he would return for it the next day. So she moved all the books out and closed the shop. It was “liberated” by Hemingway himself in 1944. However, Beach didn’t have the heart to start again.

In 1948, after a wandering youth and war service, George Whitman came to Paris on the GI Bill, and in 1951 opened an English-language bookshop which he called Le Mistral. A few years later, he moved to the Rue de la Bûcherie, but didn’t rename the shop until after Beach’s death in 1961. He had been too shy to ask her if he could use the name, although they were friends and she used to come to readings at Le Mistral.

Whitman ran his shop as a species of anarchic democracy, even though in some respects he was a benevolent dictator. Anyone who called himself a writer could find a bed there, if there was one free, and stay as long as he liked or until Whitman got tired of him. The only rule for residents was that they must read a book a day and serve in the shop for an hour. One poet, or self-styled poet, who broke the second rule and lay in bed all day reading detective novels was ejected; but his chief offence was his choice of literature rather than his idleness.

The bookshop has its regulars, residents in Paris, not all of them English-speakers by any means, who use it as a sort of club and drop in for conversation and coffee.

Stock control has always been on the casual side. It’s not unknown for someone to lift a book from the shelves, slip it into his pocket, read it and return to sell it for the secondhand shelves the following day.

Inevitably, Shakespeare and Company has long been on the tourist trail, recommended in all the guides. This is just as well, because without their custom it’s hard to see how the shop could have survived. Many are in search of a copy of A Moveable Feast. This is not always on offer because, for some reason which I can’t remember, Whitman took a scunner to Hemingway. The tourists also toss coins into the well in the shop, and it’s not unusual to see an indigent young person lying on the floor and fishing for euros.

On occasion I drop in because the lure of its history is too much even if there are other good independent book stores nearby. Visitors to Paris always want me to take them there and I oblige them even if I feel its lost some of its past glory. Still, I always buy a few books because it’s the best way to support independent book stores in this age of Amazon, as every independent book store needs all the help it can get.

#yeats #wb yeats #quote #shakespeare and co #shakespeare and company #paris #book store #books #reading #historic #literature #sylvia beach #george whitman

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bumblin-bees · 2 years

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feels like summer // life snippets ‘22

#it’s been a while #hello :)#my posts #food #aesthetic #cozy #cottagecore #grandmacore #warmcore #strawberries #tote bag #Shakespeare and co #bumblin-bees #soft aesthetic #summer #hello May #no filter #life snippets

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honmyoseagull · 10 months

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#shakespeare and company #crime seine bts #shakespeare and co #antre de perdition #paris #also #highlander the series #methos' bookshop #fav #methos #Instagram

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irrec · 4 months

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"I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being" -Hafiz

Shakespeare & Co. 03 Dec '17

Paris, France.

#My phone keeps reminding me of this trip #Paris #Shakespeare and co #Personal #Me #I didn't realize we couldn't take pictures til after oops #Someone pay for my travel please I need to leave this country again

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woolyw · 2 years

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went to the Shakespeare and Co library today and it truly moved me. I went upstairs to take a look at the pictures and as I was starting to tear up, a guy played the piano. It felt holy. I just want to spend all of my free time there from now on

#librarylife #library #shakespeare and company #Shakespeare and Co

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meern4 · 2 years

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#shakespeare and co #tote bag

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wellgoslowly · 5 months

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old quotes about love that i think lockwood associates with lucy because im obsessed with these fuckers

“and she tortures me, tortures me with her love. the past was nothing! in the past it was only those infernal curves of hers that tortured me, but now i’ve taken all her soul and through her i’ve become a man myself.” - fyodor dostoevsky

“i can’t think of any greater happiness than to be with you all the time, without interruption, endlessly, even though i feel that here in this world there’s no undisturbed place for our love, neither in the village nor anywhere else; and i dream of a grave, deep and narrow, where we could clasp each other in our arms as with clamps, and i would hide my face in you and you would hide your face in me, and nobody would ever see us any more.” - kafka

“i love thee, i love thee with a love that shall not die. till the sun grows cold and the stars grow old.” - william shakespeare

“how do i love thee? let me count the ways.” - elizabeth barrett browning

“i love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. i love you simply, without problems or pride: i love you in this way because i do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no i or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when i fall asleep your eyes close.” - pablo neruda

“if i had a flower for every time i thought of you�� i could walk through my garden forever.” - alfred tennyson

“when we love, we always strive to become better than we are. when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” - paulo coelho

“in vain i have struggled. it will not do. my feelings will not be repressed. you must allow me to tell you how ardently i admire and love you.” -jane austen

“he’s more myself than i am. whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” - emily brontë

“every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. those who wish to sing always find a song. at the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet.” - plato

“doubt thou the stars are fire; doubt that the sun doth move; doubt truth to be a liar; but never doubt i love.” -william shakespeare

“i cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which had laid the foundation. it is too long ago. i was in the middle before i knew that i had begun.” -jane austen

“i loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.” -charles dickens

“you are always new. the last of your kisses was ever the sweetest; the last smile the brightest; the last movement the gracefullest. when you pass’d my window home yesterday, i was fill’d with as much admiration as if i had then seen you for the first time… even if you did not love me i could not help an entire devotion to you.” -john keats

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waitingforthesunrise · 1 year

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you know, there’s something really special about all the fanfics set in different worlds — the steampunk au, the medieval, corporate, fantasy. It really is saying in this life and the next, I saw a million futures and he loved you in every one, I’d come for you and if I couldn’t walk I’d crawl to you; whatever our souls are made out of his, and mine are the same...If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger; doubt truth to be a liar, but never doubt I love. Love, having no geography, knows no boundaries: weight and sink it deep, no matter, it will rise and find the surface.

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sleepynegress · 15 days

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The Jamie Lloyd Company just released this Statement in light of the Onslaught of Extreme Racist Abuse Francesca Amewudah-Rivers Has Faced Since the Announcement of Her Casting...

I am so glad to see this official acknowledgment and move to protect a Black Woman by her company. It should be standard, but it's rare. May she thrive and excel and be surrounded by people who uplift her 10 times as hard as these repugnant people could ever attempt to dim her light.

#francesca amewudah-rivers #tom holland #romeo and juliet #shakespeare #jamie lloyd co #theatre #theater #racism #misogynoir #online abuse

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i-only-ever-asked-questions · 2 months

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Bilton and Scaggs

Back when I was working in the map of Soho, I got to Bilton and Scaggs Hats and Caps. There is so much to say about this shop and its history, and it is so interesting that it warrants its own post, so here we are

Bilton and Scaggs Publishers was a London publishing firm in the 1600's, we don't really know when it was established though. They were not one of the eight great publishers of London, but they were doing well enough, after all, it was able to survive its three major publishing disasters (which occurred in rapid succession). Alas, it looks like Bilton and Scaggs, publishers went out of business somewhere in the 1890's and the milliner who set up shop there, kept the name. Nowadays, only Aziraphale knows the full story. What follows are details of their disasters. They are quite funny, unless you are Master Bilton or Master Scaggs of course :P

The first one was in 1651; when they accidentally printed the so called Buggre Alle This Bible. This very rare misprinted Bible had a few verses added to Genesis and a variation in Ezekiel. Of course our angel owns one copy. Genesis chapter 3 normally has 24 verses where the last one goes like this: "24. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." The three additional ones go like this:

25. And the Lord spake unto the Angel that guarded the eastern gate, saying Where is the flaming sword which was given unto thee? 26. And the Angel said, I had it here only a moment ago, I must have put it down some where, forget my own head next. 27. And the Lord did not ask him again.

"It appears that these verses were inserted during the proof stage. In those days it was common practice for printers to hang proof sheets to the wooden beams outside their shops, for the edification of the populace and some free proofreading, and since the whole print run was subsequently burned anyway, no one bothered to take up this matter with the nice Mr. A. Ziraphale, who ran the bookshop two doors along and was always so helpful with the translations, and whose handwriting was instantly recognizable." The other issue with this Bible was a little change in Ezekiel 48:5 and it is the change that gives the Bible its name:

2. And bye the border of Dan, fromme the east side to the west side, a portion for Afher. 3. And bye the border of Afher, fromme the east side even untoe the west side, a portion for Naphtali. 4. And bye the border of Naphtali, from the east side untoe the west side, a portion for Manaffeh. 5. Buggre Alle this for a Larke. I amme sick to mye Hart of typefettinge. Master Biltonn if no Gentelmann, and Master Scagges noe more than a tighte fisted Southwarke Knobbefticke. I telle you, onne a daye laike thif Ennywone with half an oz. of Sense shoulde bee oute in the Sunneshain, ane nott Stucke here alle the liuelong daie inn thif mowldey olde By-Our-Lady Workefhoppe. @ “Æ@;! 6. And bye the border of Ephraim, from the east fide even untoe the west fide, a portion for Reuben.

What we can conclude from here is that Aziraphale owned a bookshop in the 1650's that was in the same block as Bilton and Scaggs Publishers. From the deleted scenes in the script book we know he opened A. Z. Fell & Co. in 1800. But there is nothing saying he couldn't have owned a bookshop with a different name decades or centuries before. The bookshop tour special feature from the S1 DVD says he's had it for 350 years. Counting from 2020, that would put it at around 1670. But if we generalize to around 2000, that means the shop could have been there in the 1650's. This more or less matches this ask where it is explained that Aziraphale bought the land in 1630 and over the next 60 years (1690ish) he expanded and built the current bookshop.

Sorry for the tangent, back to Bilton and Scaggs.

The second publishing disaster occurred in 1653 when somehow they obtained one of the famed Shakespeare's "Lost Quartos" and subsequently lost it (the three Shakespeare plays never reissued in folio edition and now are totally lost to scholars and playgoers. Their names are "The Comedie of Robin Hoode, or, The Forest of Sherwoode", "The Trapping of the Mouse", and finally "Golde Diggers of 1589." In S2 Episode 6 we see all three folios inside the box Gabriel brought with him. I am sure if asked directly, Aziraphale will assure you that he has no idea how those pamphlets got into that box. It was completely empty only four days ago!

The third and final disaster happened in 1655 and involved a prophecy book that didn't sell a single copy and ended up being the first book remaindered in England: "The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, witch." Not even the sign "Locale Author" attached to the book helped sell it in the author's home town in Lancashire. At the end the publisher destroyed all the unsold copies. Aziraphale, however, seems to have found the 1655 catalog from Bilton and Scaggs that contained only the 1972 prophecy "Do not buy Betamax."

I do find interesting that although evidently Aziraphale had a close relationship with Master Bilton and Master Scaggs, he still failed to secure a copy of the prophecies. It was printed right there! Next to you! How did that happen? Where were you, Aziraphale??!!

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens book #aziraphale #Mr. A. Ziraphale #a.z. fell & co #bilton and scaggs #buggre alle this bible #shakespeare's lost quartos #the nice and accurate prophecies of agnes nutter

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essektheylyss · 22 days

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Candela Obscura is a comedy.

#between the shakespeare drops and 'wet fart'#I'm SCREECHING #candela obscura #co spoilers

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uwmspeccoll · 12 days

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Shakespeare Weekend

Volume Three of The Plays of Shakespeare published by Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. in the mid to late 1860s finishes off the set with a collection of Shakespeare’s tragedies and The Story of Shakespeare’s Life written by editors Charles (1787-1877) and Mary Cowden Clark (1809-1898). Similarly to Cowden Clark’s annotations, The Story of Shakespeare’s Life is written for an audience new to Shakespeare and is a thorough account of his life, heralding him as a “shining example to the whole human brotherhood”.

Englishman Henry Courtney (H.C.) Selous (1803-1890) illustrated all three volumes with his distinctive attention to minute detail and dense landscapes. Following his father’s portrait and miniature painting career, Selous attended the Royal Academy in 1818 where he exhibited his first work Portrait of a Favourite Cat. Twenty-two years later he would switch gears into historical painting and never look back. His illustrations for The Plays of Shakespeare add an emotive visual layer to the plays, benefiting young and novice readers who may not have experienced Shakespeare in a theatre.

The Plays of Shakespeare are a collected edition of the serialization of plays originally published in one of Cassell, Petter, & Galpin’s weekly papers over the course of many years. Met with great success, some seventeen editions have been published. Our early copy is half-bound in red leather with Shakespeare’s portrait embossed in gold on the cover.

View more Shakespeare Weekend posts.

-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern

#shakespeare weekend #william shakespeare #shakespeare #the plays of shakespeare #charles cowden clark #mary cowden clark #h.c. selous #cassell petter galpin & co.#illustration #wood engravings

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francoanglo · 10 months

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#Shakespeare&Co

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liones-s · 2 years

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09/18/22: today’s study mood: trying to catch up to my own thoughts

#the first pic is from a cafe in Dublin that i stumbled upon the other day #the second is from Shakespeare & Co in Paris #kind of can't believe i've been to two such cool places #i hope all of you are also being flooded with beautiful things #writing mood #studyblr #study inspo #cafe #book shop #shakespeare and company #academia #productivity #study motivation #pretty places #European cafe

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dimity-lawn · 9 months

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(There is text below, if you’d care to read it)

I was looking at the photos above to see if any of the books had marbled fore edges (Gabriel Jim might be holding such a book in the first photo, but it might just be a trick of the light on ragged fore edges) and at the 3/4 binding on A Tale of Two Cities (4th photo) because I tend to get overexcited about marbled paper in/on old books, and though many questions that have arisen from this, I’ve only included a couple below.

Why is there what appears to be a skull in a jar in Aziraphale’s shop?? …is it poor Yorick?

And what’s up with this little lizardy dude?

Let’s take a moment to ooh and ahh over the marbled paper and appreciate whoever in the props department found/made it. I know you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, but it’s always a nice bonus if it has marbled paper on the cover/fore edges/endpapers. I also love it because one day I got bored (and apparently had too much free time on my hands) so I decided to get a second copy of Good Omens (because I thought it would be easier with a hardcover than the paperback I already have) and make it look as close to an 18th century book as I could with my level of skill (which does not include bookbinding), and one part of that was gluing/using double sided tape some period style marbled paper over the cover/binding.

#thought(s) from yours truly #good omens #neil gaiman #gnu terry pratchett #aziraphale #a z fell and co.#william shakespere #shakespeare #hamlet #poor yorick #lizard dude #marbled paper #marbled fore edges #old books #old books (binding)#good omens the nice and accurate prophecies of agnes nutter witch #18th century

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ao3-anonymous · 11 months

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Fastest Growing Fandoms on AO3 This Week (05/15/2023)

Every week I pull data on how many fics are in each fandom and compare to the previous week, then calculate the percentage increase to determine fastest growing fandoms. Since this naturally skews towards smaller fandoms, I have included the same data filtered to Over 1k, 5k, & 10k fics.

Overall:

Over 1,000 Fics:

Over 5,000 Fics:

Over 10,000 Fics:

Source: AO3 Fandom Dashboard

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