Comment du Jour

French Bookstore Opens in New York

Literary Jewel on Upper Fifth Avenue Dazzles



A few years ago, the iconic French bookstore in Rockefeller Center closed.  To be sure the Librairie de France store which started in the 1930's and was part of the magnificent art deco complex near the skating rink could not compete either with the internet nor a fall off in reading habits.

Happily New York, and its large and growing French-speaking community, not to mention beaucoup de Francophiles have a new bookstore set in a jewel-like setting on Upper Fifth Avenue near the Metropolitan Museum of Art and across from Central Park.  Albertine prides itself as "a reading room and bookshop that brings to life French-American intellectual exchange."

The concept of this bookstore comes from Antonin Baudry, the cultural counsellor for the French Embassy, who is himself a celebrated author although under a nom de plume. Baudry wrote the
book Quai d'Orsay  (a serious comic) which was equally made into a  satirical film in France under the same name.  It offers a curious look at the French Foreign Ministry and the political personalities and foibles in the Quai D'Orsay. 

Voulez-vous entrer??

But I digress.  Albertine is situated in a townhouse which is home to the Cultural Services of the French Embassy.  Albertine is both a cultural offering to America and a business offering 14,000 contemporary French and English books, French children's books and art volumes.  Prices are comparable with the cost in France and don't have huge markups.

The vibe is a grand private library.  The setting evokes the superlative Parisian Franco/English bookstore, Gagliani.   The overall feel is a quiet and inviting class which is enhanced by the reading room.

Albertine's mission includes volumes "which were selected with passion and curated with care."

The  store was officially opened recently by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

But besides books, there is a forum for intellectual discussion and the Festival Albertine shall offer a series of lectures from "Women at Work/Mad Men" (yes the TV series) through topics, "Why to we still read Tocqueville?

Do check the extraordinary offering at  www.albertine.com

Bravo for this beautiful bookstore!