Reminiscences from Paris

La librairie des Jardins des Tuileries, Musée du Louvre

In remembering the wonderful whirl of events in France of last spring, I am chagrined to find no mention of certain remarkable engagements in the Bay Area earlier in the year.  Time has been running away.

It’s been fascinating to see how one talk has led to another.  It has been my extremely good fortune to make presentations at the Mechanics’ Institute Library in San Francisco on both my books about France.  For over a century after providing essential resources for reconstructing the city after the 1906 earthquake, a wonderfully preserved building still serves as a cornerstone for the community.  

A versatile gathering room on the 4^th floor allows a wonderful conversation with the audience.  Upon entering the long room, the guest is greeted with a glass of wine at the back bar.  Arrays of comestibles line the table at the window, to be savored at nearby café tables.  Rows of chairs face the front where the speaker holds forth with microphone, computer and screen.

It was at my talk on Champagne Regained at Mechanics’ Institute Library event that a most fortunate occurrence took place.  In the audience that evening was a woman who had borrowed materials on Slovenia to plan a trip there.  That event offered us a chance to pass back the books, but this delightful new friend then booked me for two of the most stunning venues in northern California.  In Berkeley at the Town and Gown and in San Francisco at the Town and Country, book lovers congregated in a historic auditorium designed by Julia Morgan and an exquisitely appointed salon facing Union Square, respectively.   

Later in the spring I was privileged to give a talk that marked the end of an era at Orinda Books in the East Bay.  A bright new ownership took over from one of the area’s most revered literary centers.  Here’s wishing every success in all the new ventures.

I hope that you, Dear Reader, will forgive chronological deficiencies.  As I sit here in a first moment of quiet contemplation in many moons, I feel like Proust eating a mound of madeleines – such a wealth of souvenirs.

Trying to decipher the French-Slovenian-American book trade has brought eye-rubbing experiences overall.  What a golden chain still bands us together despite all onslaughts to the written word!   Discoveries related to the research perhaps can be expected, but the riches gained from dealing with bibliophiles defy quantification. 

To be a Bibliophile in France

Soprano Marci Meth’s melodious trills in the exquisite Hôtel le Marois prompted memories of an earlier Stanford event in France, also superbly crafted by Maria Adle.  Last May, in the elegant, wooded estate of Les Crayères, yours truly presented the Champagne Regained book to a delightful and erudite group that had flown to Reims from Italy, Germany and Switzerland.  The next morning Reims Mayor Arnaud Robinet treated the set to a lovely reception in a stunning City Hall salon.

Although the tour continued with other Champagne-related activities, Michèle lablache Combier’s bookshop in Sceaux beckoned us back to Paris.  Every space in her Page 1 nook is so packed with fascination that this oasis draws a faithful following from far and wide.  Upon entering we were greeted by a small round table stacked high with both Parks and Gardens in Greater Paris and Champagne Regained books and spent the afternoon chatting with an enthusiastic clientele.

We first met Maria Adle at a Stanford author event where I was signing Parks and Gardens in Greater Paris books.  For our next trip to Paris she arranged an evening at the Rodin Museum and Gardens that included my book presentation in the enchanting garden café. 

Great thanks to Maria from all her myriad Stanford fans.

Welcome Reception at the Reims City Hall by 

Mayor and Deputy Arnaud Robinet with 

Stanford event organizer Maria Adle Besson

Page 1 Bookstore, Sceaux, France

    Paris, Tuileries, Librairie des Jardins, July 15, 2013.  Photo by Patricia St. John


Six-Author Book Signing at the Tuileries Gardens in Paris

A Fabled Day at the Tuileries

The sun streamed through the crevices of a cloud-laced sky on the Sunday of the book signing in the Tuileries.  To the left, just inside the gates from the Place de la Concorde, two rows of tables stretched under a large white canopy.  The first book to catch the eye from the book stacks on the tables happened to be none other than the Parks and Gardens in Greater Paris!  What a superb surprise!

For the entire afternoon torrents of people swept through the gates, frequently spilling over between the tables.   The authors were seated on the outsides of the tables so we could talk easily with those passing down the aisle between the two rows of books.  I had the good fortune of sitting next to an amiable Parisian who has been photographing European gardens since he retired from his day job.  Now he is working on a project in Italy about gardens acquired in the early 1900's by Americans who then gifted them to various American Universities.  It will be very interesting to see this next book of his.

Inside the book boutique, down the three stairs and at the end of the vaulted ceiling, a mural of live plants and flowers decorated the entire back wall.  Here two of us were invited to present our books to the 20 or so people who gathered there.  I screwed up my courage and gave five minutes in French and five in English.

What a dream to be in the first public park in Paris, and not only that but one that survived intact all the way from the 17^th century!  The director of the bookstore, under the auspices of Parisian museums, reigned over the event as a gracious host, conferring on the event a festive air in the grand, age-old tradition of book fairs.  With the sparkling view of the Arc de Triomphe and the Tour Eiffel lending a mystical quality to exchanges with passers-by, time seemed to vanish.  Soon as afternoon’s flashing lights faded to twilight’s soft glows, a few of us pulled away from that enchanted venue and continued on to the following phase. 

Around the Place de la Concorde no taxies were in evidence, and it took several seconds to notice – to our great delight - the few little tuk-tuks clustered at the square’s edge.  We ended up riding, open-air and bouncing all the way along the cobblestones, across the bridge and down the street for the 3-4 blocks to a restaurant where we were joined  

• by our publishers who had come by train from Stuttgart to Paris

• another author writing a book on modern Parisian landscapes for them 

• our great friends who have just retired from the City of Paris parks department and land office 

• the charming author of Versailles garden books who was hired by our friend when she worked for the City of Paris and who introduced us to bookstore director, 

• the bookstore director herself, and

• a wonderfully humorous friend from Passy in the 16^th arrondissement.

The vivacious young woman who organized last year’s Stanford Alumni gathering in the Rodin Gardens for my Parks and Gardens in Greater Paris was supposed to join us; sadly she had fallen ill.

Our friends had taken care of arrangements with the restaurant so that everything ran perfectly.  Glasses of champagne came first accompanied by "amuse bouche."  At the table the language-based seating plan proved to be important to the overall conviviality - French to French only - German to German/English, English/French - German/French, and so on.  Trying to figure that out felt like solving the Rubics cube, but all our revelers seemed to be happy to end up where they did, thank heavens!

The restaurant has the feel of old France to it, un-rushed, hospitable and friendly.  Because our friends have brought groups to dine here for years -especially when they were both working for the City of Paris - the service couldn't have been more cordial.  Friendly, accommodating and joking back and forth, the ambiance felt like a cozy dinner at home except that someone else was doing all the work.  Several guests at other tables were there to celebrate anniversaires and everyone joined in to serenade "happy birthday" at least twice, with all the waiters ringing the celebratory tables.

If reluctance to leave is any evidence of a party's success, a happy hesitance hung in the air as people left.  After everyone else had gone, we ended the evening by enjoying the afterglow with our friends for just a few minutes more over yet another glass of sparkling water.  Still rubbing our eyes, we're not sure this day really happened.

Eureka! A Peninsula of Literary Salons

After picking up my pen over a decade ago, I looked for places where I could learn more about the book business, but also where I could connect with other bibliophiles.  In our current turbulent era when the world of the written word seems to be turning on its ear, the sanctuaries I have found come with a most ironic twist.

In the line of great traditions in literary gatherings - from staid 17^th century salons to spontaneous 20^th century sidewalk cafés – the modern rendition of literary meetings here seems to meld the two.  With numbers small enough to conduct conversations but large enough to create a buzz, colleagues gather slowly over wine and cheese and ultimately compose the audience for a presentation.  This model occurs repeatedly in the Bay Area.

The first crowd that I found in the San Francisco area consists of a broad mix of the publishing world, from TV hosts and master agents to pulp novelists.  NCBPMA comes together about once a month and puts on panels, speakers and events of general interest. The Northern California Book Publicity and Marketing currently meets at the Mechanics’ Institute Library café at 57 Post Street, very convenient to BART.  Anyone is welcome.  Admission fees are collected at the door, with a break given to members.

The Mechanics’ Institute Library puts on high quality programs in its own right, but also preserves the beautiful historic building which houses the events.  Tickets include a glass of wine.  Generous hors d’oeuvre usually complete the scene at the Library.

One newly refashioned literary lounge and library pulls its participants from Berkeley and the South Bay, as well as urbanites within walking distance.  The Book Club of California beautifully occupies part of a floor in the World Affairs Council building and welcomes members and nonmembers alike.  We discovered this erudite assembly when Stanford’s Green Library presented a superb “Treasures of the Archives” program there.  Primarily this group is devoted to the art press and California history.

The Rondel Society at Stanford’s Green Library itself brings cutting-edge thinkers like architect William McDonough into splendid hallowed halls, but also provides a venue for PhD students with myriad ideas.

My most recent discovery has been the Center for the Study of Western Civilization, just across the freeway from DeAnza College.  Lectures there are open to the public, cover a broad range of topics and draw on local expertise.  Its interior gravitas belies its commercial surroundings; inside the atmosphere evokes a European institute.

In the cases of all of the programs I’ve mentioned above, both size and setting afford yeasty situations conducive to discourse.  If you love books and relish learning from the like-minded, consider frequenting these oases.  In these locales we may be witnessing the spoken word reviving the written one.

If you’d like to take a look, I invite you to the lectures I’ll be giving on my new book, Champagne Regained, at the Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco at 5:30 p.m. on June 26 and at the Center for the Study of Western Civilization in Cupertino two days later at 6:30 p.m. on June 28.   For more information please visit my website www.lexicuspress.com or

ncbpma@ncbpma.org

www.milibrary.org

www.bccbooks.org

lib.stanford.edu/files/Rondel%Society%Brochure

www.westernciv.com

More immediately, if you’re in Chicago please join us at the venerable University Club of Chicago’s Learn at Lunch program at noon on May 24, or if you’re in Paris please stop by the illustrious Louvre bookstore just inside the gate from the Place de la Concorde in the Tuileries gardens at 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 2.

Santé,

Jacqui