Attention bibliophiles: put Strasbourg, the largest city in eastern France, on your radar. The city, once home to the godfather of publishing, 15th-century printing pioneer Johannes Gutenberg, is UNESCO’s World Book Capital for 2024. Through next April, more than 200 events will take place. events and activities in and around Strasbourg, a polyglot city. town on the German border whose half-timbered gingerbread houses, gabled roofs, picturesque canals and church spiers seem to have emerged from a storybook of their own.
Among the events are exhibitions dedicated to Gustave Doré, a Strasbourg native and perhaps the most famous illustrator of literary works of the 19th century, and Julie Doucet, an innovative graphic novelist and visual artist from Quebec. The Fête des Imprimeurs, which will be held annually on June 29 and 30 on Place Gutenberg, will showcase all the trades involved in creating bets, including through interactive workshops.
But UNESCO events aren’t the only reasons to visit. Strasbourg has many permanent venues for literature lovers, from comic shops and independent book emporiums to historical libraries and specialist antiquaries. Here are six favorites.
Gutenberg Square: the story begins
Originally from Mainz, Germany (about 100 miles away), Gutenberg lived in Strasbourg in the 1430s and 1440s, developing initial plans for his revolutionary movable type printing press, which would become a reality in Mainz in the 1450s.
To honor him, Strasbourg in 1840 erected a statue in a square near the city’s red sandstone cathedral, whose Gothic design made famous another German visitor, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. (The future literary star studied in Strasbourg in the early 1770s and lived near 36 rue du Vieux-Marché-aux-Poissons.)
The stone statue shows Gutenberg, bearded and solemn, holding a page with the French words “Et la lumière fut” (“And there was light”), a reference both to his famous Bibles and to the enlightenment of humanity possible thanks to the dissemination of the Bible. printed.
On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, some of the fruits of Gutenberg’s invention (used books and historical engravings) go on sale nearby during the open-air book market on rue des Hallebardes, across the street.
Fairy tales and fountain pens.
The smells of leather, parchment and dust fill La Jument Verte, an old bookstore on the rue des Juifs, one of the streets near the cathedral where some of Europe’s first printing presses once operated.
Sun-filled and cheerful, the store has a wide collection of works of history, science and medicine in French, including an 1863 travel guide to Paris (€80, or about $87) and a surgical booklet from 1870 (200 €). Literary works are another specialty. If you don’t have 50,000 euros to buy the first six volumes of the original 1668 edition of La Fontaine’s fables, a pillar of French literature, a six-volume collection of “The Divine Comedy,” with illustrations by Salvador Dalí, costs just €5,800.
If you feel inspired to draw or doodle a little later, the fanciest stationery store in town is just steps away: Monogram. Don’t miss the display cases filled with handmade Japanese fountain pens from the Namiki brand. Each one is an individual work of art adorned with gold dust and lacquer (between 1,580 and 2,850 euros). Less extravagant items also abound, including rustic leather-bound notebooks from Lamali (€65) and stacks of greeting cards, wrapping paper and bookmarks.
Surrealism, satire and more.
An extensive collection of historical works can be read for free in the huge, airy library of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Strasbourg, a repository of some 140,000 books, magazines, museum catalogs and other materials.
Do you want to leaf through the original proclamations of the Dada movement? Just ask. Published in 1918 in the Zurich-based group’s Dada magazine, the so-called Dada Manifesto (written in French) by the poet Tristan Tzara still surprises with its absurd tone, its nonsensical language, its inventive syntax and its cheerful vulgarity, as it is mockery of literature, art, language and authority.
The periodicals archive includes famous titles related to surrealism (Minotaure), German art (Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration), French satire (Le Charivari) and photography (Nouvelle Vision). A labyrinth of shelves packed with books, mostly French, on a wide range of topics, from art history and architecture to ceramics and graphic design, completes the offering.
If you’re looking for something to take home, the museum bookstore at the end of the hall contains some English gems, from “Dan Graham’s New Jersey” (€45) to “Young, Gifted and Black: A New Generation of Artists.” (€50).
a stream of words
The award for coziest bookstore goes to L’Oiseau Rare (the rare bird), a cozy little place housed in a 17th-century yellow half-timbered house. It’s one of a trio of bookstores along Quai des Bateliers, a beautiful tree-lined canalside promenade that could easily be renamed Readers’ Row.
Equipped with a three-table café and decorated with paintings by co-owner Diane Albisser, whose scenes of ballrooms and boxing rings are inspired by African-American history, the store specializes in French literary works and socially activist nonfiction, particularly about feminism. , race and environment. You can come in for a café con leche (€3.80) and leave with novels by Françoise Sagan, a dual-language edition of Maya Angelou’s poetry, and treatises by Mary Shelley translated into Molière’s language.
At the end of the pier, in another half-timbered house, Le Tigre is filled with comics, manga, graphic novels and other illustrated works in French. Wordless delights also abound, from pop culture figures (the Notorious B.I.G., Grandpa Munster; €25) to vintage vinyl albums (€15 to €20) by David Bowie, Bud Powell and other rock heavyweights and jazz.
Suddenly, things go dark inside La Tache Noire, a sanctuary for crime novel worshipers from China, India, Iceland, Mexico, Belgium, France and other far-flung nations. Almost everything is in French, although a section of American and British Hall of Famers, from Raymond Chandler to James Ellroy, caters to English speakers.
Central Vapeur: Postcards from the periphery
The location of Central Vapeur, an arts organization dedicated to illustration, graphics and alternative comics, is apt. The group’s headquarters, which occupies a warehouse in a semi-deteriorated industrial area, is located on the geographical edge of Strasbourg, and its small bookstore is equally full of visions and voices from the periphery.
Inside, a cartoon elephant smoking a pipe and wearing striped pants watches us from a tote bag (€8). A skull with pink eyes covered in birthday candles peeks out from a small round button on the lapel (€1.50). Donald Trump, biting into a scoop of ice cream that resembles the Earth, grimaces at the world from a poster on the wall (€40). Original drawings, postcards and prints also decorate the store.
In addition to graphic novels by local authors, the store’s offering includes bilingual French-English design magazines such as Cercle (published in Strasbourg; €22) and Back Office (a periodical based in Paris; €20).
And if you feel like attending a festival, the organization organizes Format(s), which celebrates French and international graphic design.
Place Kléber: the multilingual mecca
Even if Strasbourg’s largest and busiest square didn’t have a thrice-weekly (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) antique book market, a Japanese comics emporium (Le Camphrier) or a French-language book megastore (Librarie Kléber), It would still be a mandatory stop thanks to the Librarie du Monde Entier, which rotates around the world. Poetic translation: The Whole Earth Bookstore.
Are you desperate to find a guide to conversing in Basque? Look no further. A Danish edition of “The Handmaid’s Tale”? Idem. Urdu dictionaries, contemporary Turkish novels, Russian storybooks for children – all in their original language? They’re all here. Dual-language books also abound, from Italian-English versions of Machiavelli’s “The Prince” to French-English editions of the experimental French classic “Zazie dans le Métro.”
The strongest offerings are in fiction, history, biography and current affairs in English. You might even find a leftover edition (€6) of “84, Charing Cross Road”, Helene Hanff’s charming collection of letters about the book trade. As she writes: “Buying a book you’ve never read is like buying a dress you’ve never tried on.” So always take the time to browse.
Follow the travels of the New York Times in instagram and Subscribe to our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter for expert tips on how to travel smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Are you dreaming of a future getaway or simply traveling from an armchair? Take a look at our 52 places to go in 2024.