What is the use of second-hand books in a place where there are sports? This thinking may aptly be working in the restriction of the sale of second-hand books sale near the area of Seine River in France. Though it is a 400-year-old tradition, the local authorities told the booksellers to remove their wooden stalls for security reasons during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics. Their stalls are falling within the perimeter of protection for the ceremony. So these must be vacated for obviously stringent security reasons, police pointed out.
While we are on the subject of books, now seems as good a time as any to remind us that there is no genuine rationale for the sale of books at the time of the Olympics. The shifting becomes still more important than what the city authorities may try to tell, site inspections are, thankfully, not out of legality. The sheer pace, diversity, and vibrancy of change bring some different grandeur. The booksellers feel baffled by the proposal as even hard to accept comfortably. Why did they ever think of ending up their means of livelihood?
The city has invited them to move to a specially created bookseller village in a place near the Seine for the duration of the 33rd Olympiad between 26 July and 11 August. But quite surprisingly they do not seem to see the proposed location of Bastille Square to be a realistic solution.
Despite frequent bans by various French kings, bouquinistes have been selling texts along the Seine since the 16th century, originally from handcarts, voluminous pockets and trestle tables, writes The Guardian.
Jerome Callais, president of the Paris booksellers association, reportedly told the news agency: “People come to see us like they come to see the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, [but] they want to hide us during a ceremony that is supposed to represent Paris.” “No one is going to go to that suggested market,” he further said.
They make up the largest open-air book market in Europe. However, about 570 of the stalls make up about 60% of the total along the river and need to be dismantled and moved, according to city authorities.