Bookish Art: Shopping for Books in Art

 “Second-hand books are wild books, homeless books; they have come together in vast flocks of variegated feather, and have a charm which the domesticated volumes of the library lack. Besides, in this random miscellaneous company we may rub against some complete stranger who will, with luck, turn into the best friend we have in the world.”

― Virginia Woolf, “Street Haunting”

Ordering books online is quick and easy, but nothing beats going to the bookstore. The smell of books is pure magic. Especially old books. 

Bookstalls by Tavík František Šimon

Outdoor bookstalls were a popular way to shop for books throughout the 19^th and early 20^th century, and they retain their particular attraction for lovers of old books to this day. In light of the current preparations to dismantle the bookstalls on the Seine in Paris due to the upcoming Olympics, it seems that comfort is starting to kill culture. Buying books online is cheaper, yes, but you cannot replicate the experience of shopping around real paper-and-ink books. Old bookstalls are filled with long-forgotten gems and authors you had no idea you’d love that aren’t even sold in mass bookstores. Maybe the fact that these stalls are usually disorderly, with books piled up randomly, just adds to their appeal. Nothing beats the sense of discovery when you find an intriguing novel or art album among the old volumes.

Quite a few artists capture this sense of bookish wonder in their paintings. Let’s join them for a walk among the bookstalls.

Paris Bouquinistes in Paintings

At the bookstalls. 1895. Juan Sala

Juan (Jean) Sala Gabriel (1867 - 1918) was a Spanish painter who worked in France, and in this print, he captured the famous bouquinistes of Paris – booksellers occupying the banks of the River Seine. The drawing shows a couple browsing books, while the bookseller looks on. The man is already holding some books that he’s chosen, but judging by the lady’s expression, she’s just found something interesting and they won’t be leaving yet. Other shoppers are visible in the background, and there are leaves on the ground, suggesting that it’s autumn.

Window Shopping

The Bibliophile. 1902. Karel Relink

Karel Relink was a Czech painter and writer (1880 - 1945). In this painting, the artist catches the exact moment when a booklover gets hooked, staring at some books in the bookshop window. We all know how that ends – an hour gone and several unplanned books bought.

The artist chooses to portray the scene with only several colors – the ochre shades of the shop’s walls, white of the windows, and the black, browns, and greys of the man’s suit. The brick red books stand out and draw the viewer’s attention the same way they’ve claimed the gentleman’s attention.

Lamplit Bookstalls

Paris bookstore (1904). Tavík František Šimon

Tavík František Šimon (1877 –1942) was another Czech painter, influenced by the French Impressionists. He also wrote “Listy z cesty kolem světa” (Letters from Around the World), an account of a round-the-world trip he undertook in 1926. Bookstalls are a reoccurring theme in his art. Except for the painting above, he also has several drawings of the Paris booksellers along the Seine.

Bookish Acquaintances

 The Bookshop. Charles Edward Chambers

Charles Edward Chambers (1883 - 1941) was an American illustrator. In this picture, possibly an illustration to a story, we see the entrance to a bookshop, with discounted books piled by the door, complete with price tags. An elderly man exits the shop, greeting a lady walking past the shop. Both hold books in their hands. It’s unclear if they know each other or the gentleman is simply being polite.

Colourful Book Displays

 Couple near the booksellers. Bernard Boutet de Monvel

Félix Boutreux on the banks of the Seine, 1943. Bernard Boutet de Monvel

The next two paintings again depict the booksellers by the Seine. Moreover, they seem to show the same bookstall with its pastel-coloured books and view towards the bridge. In the first one, a couple stand with their backs to the viewers, busy with their own conversation and showing no interest in the books. In the second painting, an elderly gentleman is looking at the books and prints displayed in the stall, holding a large folder and an umbrella under his arm. It’s actually a portrait of Félix Boutreux (1869-1942), a painter known for his floral still-life art. It’s possible that the folder contains some of his works or purchased prints. This charming portrait (finished after the death of the sitter) was painted by Bernard Boutet de Monvel (1881 –1949), a French artist.

Autumn Books

 Booksellers along the Seine. Edouard Léon Cortès

Another painter who loved portraying the booksellers on the banks of the Seine was Edouard Léon Cortès (1882–1969), a French painter of Spanish ancestry. His poetic images of Paris in rainy lamplight have done a lot to support Paris’ image of the romantic “City of Light”, established when the city’s vast street lighting system was installed in the 19^th century. In Cortès’ painting “Booksellers along the Seine”, the artist captures an autumnal day in Paris, where the bookstalls unite with the fallen leaves, pedestrians in their grey and brown coats, and the misty outline of the Notre-Dame cathedral to transport the viewer into a peaceful vision of a time gone by. The bookstalls are like treasure chests with their colourful assortments of old volumes and prints. This painting is one of the many on the same subject by the artist.

Unapologetic Bookworm

 The Bookworm. 1926. Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell (1894 –1978) is one of the most famous American illustrators, who created numerous memorable images of American life during his career. His art has lately enjoyed a revival, fetching huge sums at auctions. “The Bookworm”, for instance, has been sold in 2015 for $3.8 million dollars. It was painted as a cover illustration for the Saturday Evening Post, which Rockwell collaborated with for many years.

The shabbily dressed gentleman is entirely engrossed, his nose stuck in a book. Further comical details include the bookworm’s oversized and tattered umbrella, mismatched shoes, and his randomly buttoned coat. Rockwell possibly based his bookworm on Carl Spitzweg’s painting of the same name. Spitzweg was famous for his images of endearing eccentrics, and Rockwell’s image follows in the same tradition. While a bit of a mess, his bookworm has the reckless charm of a person being completely himself.

 

The magic of physical books cannot compare with ebooks or audiobooks, although these are admittedly very handy at times. And although there are so many ways of shopping for books, buying them in open-air bookstalls is probably the most romantic way. Open-air booksellers and book buyers have been a favourite subject for countless artists, making for some very picturesque (and cozy) paintings. Books and readers have been a huge theme in art, from medieval manuscripts to modern graphic artists.  

 

Further Reading:

Pleasure, Privacy, and Power: Reading Women throughout Art History, Gianna Scavo 

Painting That Shows How People Used to Learn the News, Roy Greenslade 

30 Stunning Classic Paintings of Reading People, Bookmarin blog