I came across with this bookstore when I was wandering through the summery, full of life streets of Montreal. Right after I saw the place, a feeling of curiosity, delight and happiness invaded me. But also a feeling of sorrow, rage and resignation when I realized that nowadays there is a trend spreading between society based on reading is no longer trendy and even less reading paper books. What for me was standing in front of a huge opportunity to find great knowledge and wisdom in the books, for most people was just a shop.
The bookstore is located in St. Laurent Boulevard, on the left side of a white, flawless, colonial style building. A hanging sign behind the shop window glass shows the name of the bookstore: T. Wescott. Through the store window, where the trees are reflected because of the wonderful sunny day it was when I took the picture, you can see a huge variety of publications. The way the window display is organized, or rather disorganized and jumbled makes you feel like being in front of an antique store, completely full of paper treasures, where you can find countless books of your interests or any at all. It reveals that it is not a standard bookstore with the latest publications or the Top 10 bestsellers, but a bookstore that has been there for a lifetime.
A great impulse of coming inside, checking every single book and staying there for hours went through my veins with only slightly looking at the window. There are tons of books. They are placed in shelves, between them and stacked up on the floor. I do not even dare to say how many. There are books even outside the store, filling a wicket basket placed on a chair. On the backrest, a piece of paper says “livres à vendre” (books for sell). Dozens of different authors from francophone and anglophone countries sign the spine from small to big, thin to thick books, with completely different covers. Some of them are plain, with just one color leaving it to the reader’s imagination. Others only have the title written down taking up the whole cover and the remaining ones seem Kandinsky’s paints, very colorful and abstract, meant to catch people’s attention.
But the most catching detail is the owner of the bookstore. He is sitting outside, in a folding small black chair. His almost gone and white hair and his thoughtful posture, sitting cross-legged and holding his chin transmits the image of a learned man, taking care of his castle full of little written jewels which he cannot wait to share with the people who cross by. But his lost look lays bare that he actually knows that nobody is going to stop and take their time, not even to take a brief look to his books.
Nowadays, reading is no longer a common thing and let alone buying paper books. And he knows that. His expression reflects his resignation and anguish and it leads you to consider how we are missing this incomparable opportunity of having a masterpiece between our hands with which we can learn from it, grow with it.
Text and photographies: Sofía Nicolás
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