Great small bookstore with huge books. Huge in every way - content, size, gravitas. I'm not sure…read moreexactly how to describe Taschen. They have a lot of books on artists and artists' collections. For example, there is are massively over-sized books of Araki, Helmut Newton, Beatles (all photography). Then there is an amazingly illustrated book of Grimm's Fairy Tales. A book on the iconic Steve McQueen - this one in English - most here are in French. An amazing (and again very large) volume with the art of Mark Ryden - including a double foldout - so cool. Then there is a complete history of Bauhaus. As a matter of fact they have more than one book about Bauhaus design. Taschen does much of their own publishing (apparently and without doing any research on this). Also they have stores in several major cities and their website is quite efficient. But as with all things book, holding it is better than seeing in on the LCD screen. In a little more traveled part of St. Germain, 10 minutes walk from Notre Dame and 15 minutes from the Louvre across the river.

This bookstore really is great. The interior feels like a higher end clothing shop. The emphasis…read morehere is on art & design related books. They include music, photography, fashion designers, architecture, typography, illustration, erotic photography, street art, famous painters, and even a couple of travel guides. There are so many cool, topic-specific books that would make great gifts, like a Stanley Kubrick anthology, polaroids by Helmut Newton, a history of advertising, a book on company logos, photos of Audrey Hepburn, jazz album covers, etc! And to judge some of the book covers... they are just beautiful! The majority of the books are in French, some in English, and some others like an illustration book I saw are Fr/En/German. Prices aren't too bad, depending on what you like. You can get really great deals from some of the sales. A nice place to browse around to get something for yourself or someone else!

Around Fontaine St-Michel there are a few Gibert Jeunes. This one is entirely focused on…read morelanguages, unlike the three story branch across the street, which has your standard run of literature, children's books, history, etc. Great service and selection, both new and used.

I was first introduced to Gibert Jeune as a student in Paris; someplace to buy notebooks, etc. with…read morespecials out front - sort of a Barnes and Noble. I'd never been in the basement to look at the bandes dessinees/comic books and sci fi. Holy %^&^&*! They had a bunch of my favorite French language comic book authors (available used!), and of course recommendations, which is super helpful as there are a LOT of French BD's available. The book-length graphic novels of the lives of Josephine Baker, Olympe de Gouges, etc. looked really interesting (I bought one about Kiki de Montparnasse). Tributes to Goscinny for an Asterix anniversary. A BD about Goscinny himself. Historical BDs (and sure, Gaston Lagaffe, etc.). Inches of Claire Bretecher. I had never seen so many Gotlib albums in one place before (had bought used at other stores in France), and they had a lot of really fascinating-looking stuff, which I was afraid to buy too much of as paper is heavy. If you like French language BDs definitely check this place out.

Unique and wide selection of books with a welcoming, helpful team. Plus the location is charming…read moreand easy to find

A simply darling little bookshop smack dab in the middle of Saint Germain. The adorable postcards &…read morecalendars they had displayed in racks out front caught my eye, and I couldn't help buying some for my Europe-enthusiast relatives. The inside is what I expect an ideal bookstore to be - a tad dark, cool, quiet and comfortable. With several different rooms, no doubt you could spend hours in here (if you speak French - French books only :). What kept me interested was a shelf near the door that held an assortment of guidebooks and charming little blank notebooks, ideal for recording your travels. I bought a sweet pink one, just what I needed for Yelp notes and such. Definitely check this place out for little souvenirs and French books (if you speak the language). Too cute.