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Author Archives: Parisian Fields
First we take Manhattan, then we take Paree!
I bought my first Eloise book from a secondhand bookstall at school when I was 9 or 10. It was Kay Thompson’s Eloise in Moscow, and I was captivated by Hilary Knight’s illustrations, including a fold-out view of a wintry … Continue reading
A Doomed Attempt at Out-Eiffelling Eiffel
Even before its inauguration on March 31, 1889, the Eiffel Tower was world famous. Loved by some, reviled by others, it would be the world’s tallest building until New York’s Chrysler Building took the lead in 1930. Of course, as … Continue reading
Posted in Paris architecture, Paris expositions
Tagged Albert Brunel, American Architect and Building News, Charles Baillairgé, Edward W. Watkin, Eiffel Tower, Gustave Eiffel, London Stump, Max Am Ende, Neloah, Public Domain Review, Thames Iron Works and Shipbuilding Co., Tower Company Limited, Wembley
5 Comments
Eking out a living on the streets of Paris
Paris has a reputation as a city of glitz and glamour. But in the early 20th century, beneath the glamour, many barely survived from day to day. In London, journalist and reformer Henry Mayhew had written a multi-volume study, London … Continue reading
Paris in the year 2000, viewed from 1900
It seems that humans cannot resist dabbling in predicting the future. We have an innate need to ignore Yogi Berra’s clear warning, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” So what did the year 2000 look like from a … Continue reading
Fifty Ways to Close Your Shutters
On our last visit to Paris in June, we did most of our travelling by bus, which meant time spent waiting at bus stops and journeys on which we gazed out the window at the streets, instead of hurtling through … Continue reading
Posted in Paris architecture, Paris hospitals, Paris streets
Tagged arrêts bergère, arrêts de vent, arrêts de volet, awnings, espagnolette, Institut du Monde Arabe, jalousie, Maison de Balzac, moucharabieh, persiennes, Port Royal maternity hospital, shutters, stores à l’italienne, stores venétiens, volets, volets roulants
14 Comments
The scavengers
Major nineteenth-century cities such as Paris or London depended on complex ecosystems in which the showiest sometimes obscured underlying layers. Consider a city in which by 1900 it was said that as many as 300,000 cigars (perhaps the number included … Continue reading
Pippa, Pouch, and a Paris Publisher
We don’t usually make a big deal of birthdays. Norman’s falls in late winter just as the academic term is winding up. Philippa’s falls in early summer, just as everyone is going away. This year we were in Paris for … Continue reading
Posted in Paris shops
Tagged Abbey Bookshop, André Arnold-Peltier, Au Port du Salut, Brian Spence, Brigitte Peltier, Francois Pouch, Latin Quarter, Librairie Pippa, Marius Arranz, Maxtor, Quartier latin, rue du Sommerard, Salon des éditeurs indépendants du Quartier latin, SEME Santé Etudes Musique Espoir
4 Comments
The contra-flâneur
On Friday, October 18, 1974, at 10:30 in the morning, Georges Perec took a seat in the café known as Tabac Saint-Sulpice, and assigned himself the task of observing what happened in the square in front of him. He wanted … Continue reading
Monsieur Rochefort and his surprising typewriters
When Martin, my typewriter collector friend, invited me to see “a little something from Paris,” I had never heard of the Dactyle typewriter. Nor did I realize I was about to learn the story of a French engineer/inventor who helped … Continue reading
