Paris booksellers move out of the city

The picturesque little village on the Loire River, La Charite-sur-Loire, is now known as the 'city of books’\'. Unable to afford the sky rocketing rents of Paris, one of Europe's priciest cities, many of its booksellers have gone south in search of a less expensive location two hours from the capital.

The report says, when Christian Valleriaux, a specialist in rare books, became the first Parisian bookseller to move in 1992, having had enough of paying such high rents, most of his regular customers -- over 50 percent of his business -- followed him, but he also sells on the Internet or by catalogue.

Other book dealers in Paris soon followed suit. Today, the village of 5,000 has 12 specialty book stores focusing on old and rare books, original French typography, calligraphy and bookbinding.

Now known as 'the city of books', it has regular book sales held in the centre of the city on the third Sunday of every month. There's also an internationally known salon of old books in July and a book art fair in May.

In 1992, the city was completely dead. Now there are bustling cafes, art galleries, gourmet boutiques, wine shops and lots of book stores. It is now a tourist dive. And check out some of the names: "Le monde a l'envers" (The Backwards World), "La, ou dort le chat," (There Where the Cat Sleeps), and "Les palmiers sauvages" (The Wild Palms).

DW-World