Paris Meets NYC : Albertine Book Store

Located at 79th and 5th Avenue on the Upper East Side inside a historical mansion lies the Albertine Book Shop. Albertine is the only bookshop in New York devoted to books in French and English entirely and houses more than 14,000 book titles. Albertine is a project by the Culture Services of the French Embassy. The mansion has been the home to the Cultural Services of the French embassy since 1952 but the book store is new since 2014.

The staff speaks both French and English and couldn’t have been more welcoming. They really are proud of Albertine and want to make the books and resources available to everyone. I absolutely love a good book store and could spend hours inside. I really had to tear myself away from here onto lunch at Cafè Cluny. I will definitely be back next time I am in NYC to spend more time here. 

Albertine hosts several events throughout the month and they have more details available on there website They have an amazing Children’s section which I wanted to grab every French book for my niece Emma. There are couches and chairs around the shop to make it inviting. You literally could curl up with a good book in any nook around the shop.

My friend Taylor mentioned she brought her daughter to a Mother’s Day event at Albertine and the whole family loved it. The next Kids story event is September 24th titled Beep – Beep in New York. It’s free and open to the public just make sure to RSVP on their site. 

The staff told me not to miss the upstairs which included this beautiful hand-painted mural of constellations, stars, and planets. The design was modeled after the ceiling of the music room at the Villa Stuck in Munich, Germany. 

If you make it to Albertine we would love to hear from you on how you enjoyed it! Don’t forget to tag #everydayparisian on social media so we can find your photos. We are always on the search for new places to share with our readers so feel free to drop us a line if you have any suggestions!