TO VISIT PARIS
Some books

The Olympic Games will be an opportunity for many to take a trip to Paris. We think we will be useful to them by indicating here a choice of books dedicated to the capital and its surroundings. This list will undoubtedly also be of interest to Parisians, who, rumor has it, know very little about the city they live in...

Among the overall “Guides”, let us cite the “Blue Guides” (Hachette, ed.). dedicated, one to Paris, the other to the Surroundings of Paris (25 francs each). By the abundance, clarity and variety of their documentation, they constitute first-rate books.
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We owe to Mr. Georges Cain seven volumes of discreet and precise erudition, where the acts of its long history are evoked in the present setting of the city Coins de Paris, Along the streets, Promenades dans Paris, Nouvelles Promenades, A through Paris, Paintings of Paris, The Stones of Paris. Two other volumes take us to the surroundings of Paris. Each of these books is illustrated with around a hundred engravings. (Flammarion, ed.; each volume: 15 francs.)

How many passions collided in this prodigious city! How many ghosts walk there! Almost every old house retains a hint of dark or comic history. In front of the small mirror of a narrow house on Rue Saint-Honoré, Robespierre tied his tie on the morning of 9 Thermidor; the flagstones of a certain dark alley rang under Molière's footsteps; such a hotel was inhabited by Racine; on this iron railing the hand of Voltaire rested; from the top of the stone steps of Saint-Thomas d'Aquin, the Holy Father gave his blessing to the prostrate crowd... In front of this old door passed the carriage of Henry IV when the good king was assassinated; there stood the Bastille; here, the old Place Royale appears as young and cheerful as it was in the time of the musketeers....

Mr. André Hallays, too, in Paris and Autour de Paris (2 volumes), carried out his intelligent and sensitive stroll (Perrin, ed.; 12 francs per volume). André Billy, in two very beautiful volumes, illustrated by Charles Huard with 300 pen drawings, evoked Paris Neuf et Vieux (Rey, ed.; 30 francs for two volumes). The Marquis de Rochegude and Maurice Dumoulin have written a practical guide through old Paris, very interesting, very complete, and decorated with sketches (Champion, ed.; 25 francs.) In the collection of “Famous Art Cities”, G. Riat gave a Paris where everything essential is said (12 francs; illustrated).

Everyone knows the erudition and talent of Mr. Gaston Lenôtre. He is the eminent historian of ancient Paris. In the five series of its Vieilles Maisons, Vieux Papiers relives all of Paris from the time of the Revolution (Perrin, ed.; 10 francs each series). “To see Paris,” he wrote, “is not only to become familiar with its topography and the appearance of its monuments, to admire its perspectives, to visit its palaces and its museums, to stroll its boulevards; To fully enjoy it, one must immerse oneself in one's long atavism and lend oneself to the embrace of one's past. » Thanks to G. Lenôtre, we quickly let ourselves be taken in by the serious charm of times gone by.

Let us mention Paris-Atlas, a magnificent library book, text by Fernand Bournon, illustrated with 600 photographic engravings and 24 color plans (Larousse, ed.; paperback, 30 francs; hardcover, 60 francs). It is the work that we love to reread and leaf through, and through which all the memories of a trip come to life.
To finish, let us point out some other books (illustrated) dedicated specifically to some of the riches of Paris or its surroundings:
Marcel Aubert: Notre-Dame de Paris (Laurens; 40 francs).
J. Roussel: The Trocadéro Museum (Laurens; 3 francs).
L. Hourticq: The Rubens Gallery, at the Louvre (Laurens; 3 francs).
L. Dimier: Le Château des Invalides (Laurens; 4 fr. 50).
P. Gruyer: Eight Days in Versailles (Hachette; 15 francs).
P. Gruyer: Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Laurens; 10 francs).
C. Piton: Marly-le-Roi. His history (1697-1904) (E. Paul; 20 francs).

May these few books enable visitors to Paris to fully appreciate it and understand its attractive and complex soul!

LOUIS DE CAEN.