Craft guide
ORBISBOOKSELLERS & STATIONERS IN PARIS27 stores · curated ORBIS register
After 8 Books stocks artists' books and essays from independent publishers, also publishing through its own Paris operation. Delfonics brings Japanese notebooks and pens to Rue Saint-Honoré, with washi tape among its stationery products. Exacompta makes planners and filing systems, offering paper supplies alongside the books represented in this Paris selection.
Paris / Online
Adeline Klam sells Japanese paper, origami supplies, stationery and decorative craft materials from Paris. Workshops and kits help beginners understand folding and paper choice before investing in larger quantities.
Best for Japanese papers, origami, and stationery workshops
Paris / Online
Paris bookshop and publisher continuing the work of Section 7 Books, formerly a department of the independent space castillo/corrales (2007-2015, Belleville); in its 10th-arrondissement premises since 2019, stocking artists' books, essays and zines from independent publishers.
Best for Contemporary and critical art books from an independent Paris publisher
After 8 Books traces its origins to a single bookshelf inside castillo/corrales, an independent project space active in Paris's Belleville neighborhood from 2007 to 2015. That space's book program operated as Section 7 Books; After 8 Books continues that work under its own name and has occupied its current premises in the 10th arrondissement since 2019. The shop works with independent publishers and authors to sell monographs, artists' books, catalogues, essays, novels, non-fiction and zines. Its founders describe the bookstore less as a simple point of sale than as a social space -- somewhere to receive not just boxes of books but the practices and ways of working those books represent, filling gaps they felt weren't otherwise being addressed. Beyond the Paris shop, After 8 Books curated Croissant, a bookshop housed inside the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, running that project from 2018 until 2024. The shop also distributes titles through the D.A.P./Artbook network and appears at art-book fairs including Paris Internationale.
Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Paris
Slipcased travel and fashion volumes made to sit out rather than be shelved, from the Faubourg Saint-Honore shop.
Best for Slipcased luxury travel and fashion books that double as decor
Paris / Online
Paris engraving house founded in 1880 by Emile Benneton in the Madeleine quarter, now at 75 Boulevard Malesherbes; hand-engraves prestige stationery and calling cards, with craftspeople recognized as Meilleurs Ouvriers de France.
Best for Engraved stationery and heirloom correspondence.
Benneton Graveur is a Paris engraving house founded in 1880 by Emile Benneton in the Madeleine quarter, historically supplying prestige stationery to European royal courts and the era's social elite. The house is now based at 75 Boulevard Malesherbes in the 8th arrondissement and continues to produce hand-engraved stationery using traditional engraving tools and dies; its craftspeople hold Meilleurs Ouvriers de France status.
Canal Saint-Martin
Independent bookshop and magazine shop at 26 Rue du Chateau d'Eau near the Canal Saint-Martin, Paris, opened in 2021 by Julien Achard, specializing in independent art, design and fanzine publishing.
Best for Independent magazines, fanzines, and niche design books
Cahier Central is a bookshop at 26 Rue du Chateau d'Eau in Paris's 10th arrondissement, roughly midway between Place de la Republique and the Canal Saint-Martin. Opened in 2021 by founder Julien Achard, the shop specializes in independent publishing - art, design, music, ecology and contemporary feminism among its recurring subjects - stocking magazines, fanzines and posters from small and underrepresented publishers.
Paris / Online
Paris paper-art boutique and gallery at 6 Rue du Pont Louis Philippe in the Marais (the 'Rue du Papier'), opened 1979 by Ann Barth as an alternative to conventional stationers. Now run by Vanessa Barth and Marcel Zuger, mixing notebooks and correspondence stationery with work by paper artists and engravers.
Best for French notebooks, fountain pens and serious desk tools
Calligrane was founded in 1979 by Ann Barth, who first opened a Calligrane papeterie in Cannes before establishing the Paris shop at 6 Rue du Pont Louis Philippe in the Marais's 4th arrondissement, nicknamed the 'Rue du Papier.' The shop devotes gallery space to paper artists, engravers and sculptors, hosting exhibitions of their work through the year. It carries notebooks, correspondence stationery, Japanese washi paper, custom printing and small-batch handcrafted paper objects. When founder Ann Barth died in 2011, the business passed to Vanessa Barth and her husband Marcel Zuger, who continue to run it with the same emphasis on discovering and showcasing paper artists.
Paris / Online
Paris bookshop dating to 1708 near the Palais-Royal; relocated to 155 rue Saint-Honore in 1906 after a fire, owned by Gallimard since 1986. About 25,000 titles across literature, art and history in a 90 sqm space.
Best for Literature, art books, and gifts at a historic bookshop near the Palais
Librairie Delamain traces its origins to 1708, when it was established at the Palais-Royal by Andre Cailleau, making it one of the oldest bookshops in Paris still operating. A fire at the neighboring Comedie-Francaise theater forced a move in 1906 to its current address at 155 rue Saint-Honore. The shop has been owned by publishing house Gallimard since 1986. Within its compact 90-square-meter space, Delamain stocks roughly 25,000 titles spanning literature, art, history, science and the humanities. The shop has literary associations dating back generations: writers including Guy de Maupassant and Michel Foucault are recorded as having frequented it.
Paris
Delfonics is a Japanese stationery brand whose Paris selection brings notebooks and diaries together with albums and writing accessories. Its approach treats stationery as practical equipment for organising a day or recording ideas, with design central to the choice. The range offers paper goods for personal use as well as compact gifts for people who enjoy writing.
Best for Japanese notebooks, diaries and paper gifts in Paris
Delfonics is a stationery company built around the idea that a pen or sheet of paper can become an entry point into culture. Its official philosophy argues that stationery should remain practical while also releasing the user's sensibility and creativity. That position appears in the product structure. Delfonics develops original items, store-limited releases and collaborations, while Rollbahn and Smith provide two recognisable lines within the wider range. Notebooks, diaries and carrying cases sit beside tools for organizing a desk or bag. The company compares choosing stationery with choosing a book, music or a film, treating taste as part of function rather than as surface decoration. Its GALLERY and Journal material extend that editorial role by placing products beside exhibitions and makers alongside working practices. The company profile grounds Delfonics in a specific design and publishing environment. The merchant's distinction extends beyond the number of notebook formats. It is the deliberate connection among writing and organization alongside cultural choice, supported by named in-house lines and a programme that moves between product design and collaboration alongside presentation.
Paris / Online
Exacompta makes planners, filing systems, notebooks, cards and desk accessories for organised paper workflows. Compatible formats and refill systems matter more than decoration when building a durable stationery setup.
Best for Planners, filing systems, notebooks, cards
Paris / Online
France's culture-and-tech institution since 1954 — books, music, and electronics with the famous adhérent card.
Best for Books, tech, and French cultural gifting.
79 Rue des Archives, 75003 Paris
Dedicated to the father of modern photojournalism, this foundation in a quiet courtyard of the Marais hosts exceptional photography exhibitions.
Best for Exceptional photography exhibitions and one of Paris's best photography bookshops.
Paris / Quartier Latin / Online
Gibert Joseph is a Latin Quarter bookseller descended from Joseph Gibert. He began selling books from bouquiniste boxes on the Quai Saint-Michel in the 1880s and opened a secondhand textbook shop on the Boulevard Saint-Michel. The Gibert Joseph name dates from 1929, when the founder's elder son opened at number 30. The shop now covers several buildings on the boulevard, mixing new and secondhand books with records.
Best for Second-hand books, textbooks, and Left Bank browsing.
Gibert Joseph is a Paris bookseller whose story starts with Joseph Gibert, a former teacher of classical literature from Saint-Étienne. He arrived in Paris in the 1880s and sold books from four bouquiniste boxes on the Quai Saint-Michel opposite Notre-Dame. He then opened a shop on the Boulevard Saint-Michel dealing in secondhand school textbooks. It thrived as Jules Ferry's laws made schooling free and compulsory. After his death in 1915 his sons took over, and in 1929 they went separate ways. The elder, Joseph, opened his own shop at 30 boulevard Saint-Michel under the name Gibert Joseph. Régis kept the original quayside business as Gibert Jeune. The Gibert Joseph shop grew to six floors and spread along the boulevard to numbers 26, 30 and 34, drawing students from the nearby Sorbonne. From the 1950s it added records, then videos and stationery. A specialist record shop opened at number 34 in 1996. In 2017 Gibert Joseph took over the struggling Gibert Jeune, ending 88 years of separation. Secondhand books still make up a large share of what the company sells.
Saint-Germain
Boulevard Saint-Germain bookshop, next to Café de Flore, opened in the early 1980s; stocks over 40,000 titles and stays open until midnight every night but Sunday.
Best for Left Bank French literature, essays, and art books
L'Écume des Pages opened on Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris in the early 1980s, in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter next to the Café de Flore. The shop is a general-interest bookstore rather than a specialist one, carrying more than 40,000 titles across literature, essays, and art books. Its defining feature in the neighborhood is its hours: the store stays open every night except Sunday until midnight, unusual for a Paris bookshop and a draw for browsers looking for a late-evening stop after dinner in the quarter. In the summer of 2023, the store was acquired by the Bolloré group, though it continues to operate under a charter of editorial independence for its book selection. It remains one of the more visible bookshops on the Left Bank, positioned along one of Saint-Germain's main boulevards amid a concentration of other literary cafés and bookshops that has long defined the neighborhood's identity.
Paris / Online
Paris stationery brand launched in 2013 by three entrepreneurs, designing and producing notebooks, cards and paper goods in the Paris region as a deliberate stand for handwriting over all-digital habits.
Best for Notebooks, cards, calendars, and graphic paper goods
Le Papier fait de la Resistance ('paper puts up a fight') was launched in 2013 by three entrepreneurs in their thirties who wanted to make a case for handwriting in an increasingly all-digital world. The brand is based at Place des Cinq Martyrs du Lycee Buffon in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, and describes its notebooks and paper goods as designed and manufactured in the Paris region. Its signature notebook format uses a rigid, textured cover with a single elastic closure designed to work for both left- and right-handed users, wrapped around roughly 112 pages of cream-colored paper. Beyond notebooks, the catalogue extends to cards, calendars and other graphic paper goods.
Saint-Germain
Karl Lagerfeld’s bookshop — the Kaiser’s own 7L, now Chanel-kept, photography and style scholarship.
Best for Photography and style books from Karl Lagerfeld's own bookshop
Paris
Paris's technical and scientific bookstore since 1894. Six floors of books on architecture, engineering, computer science, design, and applied arts. The architecture section on the ground floo.
Best for Six floors of books on architecture, engineering, computer science, design
Rue de Rivoli / 1st
Founded in Paris in 1801 by Giovanni Antonio Galignani — a family in the book trade since 1520s Venice — and at 224 rue de Rivoli since 1856, Galignani is an English-language bookshop. Six family generations on, its wood-panelled rooms hold three departments: English, French, and the Fine Arts section added when English books were banned under the Occupation.
Best for English-language books and fine-arts volumes in Paris
6 Place des Vosges, 75004 Paris
Victor Hugo's former apartment, now a free museum on the Place des Vosges. The rooms are furnished as they were during his residence, and the gift shop offers an excellent selection of literary books.
Best for Victor Hugo's former apartment on Place des Vosges — excellent literary bookshop.
Saint-Germain
Mélodies Graphiques is a Paris stationery shop focused on paper and calligraphy. It carries inks and sealing wax alongside notebooks and cards for writing projects. The shop's own calligraphy papers and selected vintage finds offer further choices for people who prefer working by hand.
Best for Paper, calligraphy supplies and sealing wax in Paris
5 Rue de Thorigny, 75003 Paris
The Musée Picasso Paris bookshop sits at the museum entrance in the Marais. Its shelves cover Picasso's work and modern art through exhibition catalogues and monographs, with a separate selection for younger readers. Stationery and objects in textiles or ceramics extend the selection beyond books, with ranges linked to the museum's exhibitions.
Best for Picasso books and museum-related gifts in Paris
The bookshop at the entrance to the Musée Picasso Paris is useful for visitors who want to keep reading after seeing the collection. Exhibition catalogues sit alongside monographs on Picasso, while the wider bibliography includes essays and books about modern and contemporary art. Some publications are available in English, though the language of a particular title needs checking before purchase.
The selection also reaches younger readers through books about colour and creative activities. That makes the shop a place to choose a book for a child as well as a more detailed study of an artist or exhibition. A small illustrated volume and a substantial catalogue serve quite different purposes, so browsing format and language matters as much as choosing a subject.
Beyond the books are stationery and objects in textiles or ceramics. Lines connected to exhibitions change the selection over time. The shop's strength for a visitor is the relationship between these objects and the museum's programme, rather than a promise that every item is locally made or represents an original artwork.
Haut-Marais
Ofr Paris is a bookshop for art books, fashion publications, photography, magazines and small-press editions. Its programme of openings and events turns the Haut-Marais store into a meeting point for independent print culture.
Best for Art books, zines, and openings at the Marais' indie-print institution where fashion
Haut-Marais
Paris stationery brand founded in 2011 by Maxime Brenon and Julien Crespel, launched first as a website; notebooks and paper goods are designed in-house and manufactured locally in Paris from recycled and responsibly sourced paper.
Best for Marais stationery with recycled-stock geometric graphics, made in Paris
Papier Tigre was founded in Paris by Maxime Brenon, who came from a marketing background, and Julien Crespel, a designer who had previously run his own branding and communications agency. The label began in 2011 as a website before the founders opened a physical studio and boutique, initially based in the Marais district.
The brand's core proposition is stationery - notebooks, diaries, planners and paper accessories - designed in-house by its own team of graphic artists rather than licensed from outside designers, and manufactured locally using recycled paper and other responsibly sourced materials rather than outsourced overseas production. That local-manufacturing commitment earned Papier Tigre recognition under the "Fabrique a Paris" label, a Paris city program recognizing goods actually made within the city rather than merely designed or branded there.
The studio and workshop have since relocated from the original Marais site to the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin in the 10th arrondissement, reflecting the brand's growth from a small stationery boutique into a larger design-and-manufacturing operation, while its retail presence has continued to be associated with the Marais shopping district where it first opened.
Paris / Online
French stationery and wallpaper brand offering timeless patterns for notebooks, cards, wallpaper, and home décor with responsible French production.
Best for Notebooks, cards, calendars, and prints from a Paris stationery brand
Season Paper is a French stationery and wallpaper brand offering "motifs intemporels pour un quotidien inspirant" (timeless patterns for inspiring daily life) produced with responsible, quality French manufacturing. The company produces stationery (notebooks, journals, agendas, notepads, cards), wallpaper with various motifs including animals, florals, landscapes, and graphics, plus home décor items such as throws, gift wrapping, puzzles, and books. Season Paper operates a design studio that creates original patterns and offers seasonal collections like the "Islay" line. The brand supports both B2C e-commerce and B2B options for resellers and design professionals. Free shipping on stationery orders over €50 is available within France. The company emphasizes its commitment to responsible, French, quality production in an era of globalized manufacturing.
37 Rue de la Bûcherie, 75005 Paris
The most English-language bookstore in the world — the original was a gathering place for the Lost Generation. The current version on the Left Bank continues the tradition. Readings, workshops. Established 1951.
Best for English-language books, readings and Left Bank literary history
Saint-Germain
TASCHEN’s Saint-Germain store specialises in richly illustrated art, architecture, photography and fashion books. Standard editions sit beside oversized monographs and limited collector sets, making format and production part of the purchase.
Best for SUMO-sized monographs and collector art-book editions in Saint-Germain
6th arrondissement, paris / France
The Red Wheelbarrow occupies two addresses on rue de Médicis across from the Luxembourg Gardens, an English-language bookshop that has anchored Paris's Left Bank literary scene since opening in the Marais in 2001. Alongside its adult store at no. 11, no. 9 now houses The Red Balloon, its bilingual children's offshoot, and both host a steady calendar of author readings and poetry nights.
Best for Bookstore, independent, anglophone
Marais / Filles du Calvaire
This Marais bookshop carries art publishing and editions connected to a noted collector.
Best for Marais art publishing and limited editions from a legendary gallerist-collector
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