Albertine Books in French and English, a project of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, opened over the weekend in New York City. Albertine announced the development with a Facebook post flourish on Friday: "Et voilà! After years in the making, Albertine Books in French and English opens its doors! We can't wait to share the new space with you. Come visit us tomorrow, 9/27."
A Festival Albertine will take place from October 14-19 as part of the opening celebrations, offering a preview of the special events and cross-cultural programming that will take place at the venue year-round.
Antonin Baudry, the embassy's cultural counselor who originally decided to open the bookshop, "envisions Albertine as a gathering spot for book clubs and debates--not unlike iconic Paris outpost Shakespeare and Company," Condé Nast Traveler reported, adding that Baudry chose the store's name because he was drawn to the character in Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time "because of her elusive nature."
"It's a good metaphor for a bookstore, since you never know what's inside," he said. "You're always searching, wandering around."
Visiting just prior to opening day, the Paris Review's Dan Piepenbring noted that "Baudry showed me around its impressive two floors, which had already achieved--though the ladders and drop clothes were still in evidence, and the painters were still painting, the burnishers still burnishing--an enviable blend of new bookstore smell and old building smell. It resembles a magnificent private library of the sort you'd expect to find in a turn-of-the-century estate."
