Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris

442 Pages·2011·3.1 MB·English

by  Graham Robb

PARISIANS
Also by Graham Robb in Picador

BALZAC
VICTOR HUGO
RIMBAUD
STRANGERS
Homosexual Love in the
Nineteenth Century
THE DISCOVERY OF FRANCE
GRAHAM ROBB
PARISIANS

An Adventure History of Paris

W. W. Norton & Company
New York London
Copyright © 2010 by Graham Robb
All rights reserved
First Edition
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,
write to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.,
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Robb, Graham, 1958–
Parisians: an adventure history of Paris/Graham Robb.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN: 978-0-393-06724-8
1. Paris (France)—History—Anecdotes. 2. Paris
(France)—Biography—Anecdotes. I. Title.
DC723.R63 2010
944'.361—dc22 2009054279
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
www.wwnorton.com
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd.
Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W1T 3QT
TO MY PARENTS
GORDON JAMES ROBB
(1921–2000)
JOYCE ROBB,
née Gall
Contents

List of Illustrations
Map

DEPARTURE
ONE NIGHT AT THE PALAIS-ROYAL
THE MAN WHO SAVED PARIS
LOST
RESTORATION
FILES OF THE SÛRETÉ
A PROPERTY IN BOHEMIA
MARVILLE
REGRESSION
MADAME ZOLA
MARCEL IN THE MÉTRO
THE NOTRE-DAME EQUATION
A LITTLE TOUR OF PARIS
OCCUPATION
LOVERS OF SAINT-GERMAIN-DES-PRÉS
THE DAY OF THE FOX
EXPANDING THE DOMAIN OF THE POSSIBLE
PÉRIPHÉRIQUE
SARKO, BOUNA AND ZYED
TERMINUS: THE NORTH COL

Chronology
Sources
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations

MAP OF PARIS

Plan Guilmin: ‘Nouveau Plan de Paris Monumental’ (Leconte et Guilmin, Paris,
1900).
SECTION ONE

1. From the ‘Plan Turgot’, by Louis Bretez (map commissioned by
Michel-Étienne Turgot), 1734–39. The Art Archive/JFB.
2. Louis-Léopold Boilly, The Galleries of the Palais Royal (1809; the
original version, now lost, was shown at the 1804 Paris Salon). Some
of the gentlemen may be British visitors, taking advantage of the Peace
of Amiens (1802–03). RMN/Musée Carnavalet, Paris.
3. View taken from under the Arch of Givry (1807), by John Claude
Nattes, engraved by John Hill: Pont au Change, Conciergerie and Tour
de l’Horloge. The arcades, flooded at high tide, ran under the Quai de
Gesvres and later formed part of a tunnel in the Métro.
4. RMN/Château de Versailles/Gérard Blot. 4. ‘Monsieur, someone has
robbed me of a thousand-franc note’: Honoré Daumier’s view of
Vidocq’s Bureau des Renseignements. Le Charivari, 6 November
1836. Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections
Department, Brandeis University, Massachusetts.
5. Gustave Le Gray, Paris, View of Montmartre (a montage: cityscape, c.
1849–50; sky, c. 1855–56). Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
6. ‘Cross-section of a Parisian house on 1 January 1845’, by Bertall