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Paris is a city with a large number of bookstores and a wide selection of books in French. However, in the Latin Quarter, the historical and cultural heart of the city, there are two bookstores notable for their international reputation and English-language books: Shakespeare and Company and the Taschen bookstore. Both stores, Taschen and Shakespeare, represent important points in Paris’s cultural landscape and are part of a diverse and specialized network of bookstores, particularly concentrated in the Latin Quarter.

The Taschen publishing house from Cologne, established in 1980, is today known worldwide for visual and art literature, including books on visual arts, design, architecture, photography, fashion, film, and erotica. Originally focused on comics and affordable art editions, it has developed into a globally recognized brand of luxury publications, including limited-edition collector’s items.

The Taschen bookstore in Paris, the prestigious retail space of this publishing house, is located at 2 rue de Buci, in the 6th arrondissement, at the intersection of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Odéon districts. The bookstore’s interior, designed in a minimalist style, resembles an art gallery more than a traditional bookstore; some books are displayed as exhibits, and the publications are regularly rotated depending on current promotions, exhibitions, and editions.

The bookstore exclusively offers Taschen publications, ranging from affordable pocket books to large-format and limited-edition volumes signed by the artists. Well-known series include Basic Art, as well as monographs dedicated to artists such as Salvador Dalí, Hieronymus Bosch, David Hockney, Francis Bacon, Helmut Newton, Robert Mapplethorpe, and others.

The books are often conceived as art books and objects, combining texts by art historians and curators with high-quality reproductions.

You can read the text about the Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris HERE.