About a year ago I stumbled across these books: well, actually, the “Quiet Corners of Paris” book as that was published in 2007. It is absolutely charming….. For months I would take it to bed each night, and,like a child’s story book, reread the same pages over and over. I never tire of rereading this one.

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Then, in 2008, the publisher,The LIttle Bookroom, came out with these two books on shopping in Paris. But no, these are not your typical “shopping” books of the city: they are little gems in their sophisticated simplicity . The photography in both is subtle and gentle: it leads you into the shops and really makes you want to stay.

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In the “Made by Hand“, or “Fait Main” book we see the shop “Oh Dis Le Moi” ( oh tell me): a gem-like atelierof flawlessly handcrafted jewelry. Or “Alexandra Sojfer”, who has been hand crafting umbrellas in an atelier started by her grandfather. Yes, in Paris, one can find a shop totally devoted to beautiful umbrellas:and not the hole-in-the-wall kind we have here, selling umbrellas for $5.00.

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In “The Best Vintage and Collectible Shops in Paris” we find any and all kinds of antique and second-handstores. Again, the photographs are clear and lovely, many pages having a collage of shots in that particularstore. The names are wonderful: “Dans L’air Du Temps”; “Et Puis C’est Tout”; or “Au Petit Bonheur la Chance”.

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I’m joining the party over at:

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