"The true Parisian doesn't love Paris, but he can't live anywhere else." - Alphonse Karr
Over the centuries, Paris has never ceased to fascinate, inspire and overwhelm. Yet never before has a book attempted to capture the essence of the City of Light with such precision, poetry and luxury as Paris by Paris, Assouline's masterful new opus.
Following the international success of New York by New York, this exceptional volume by Ariel Wizman and Harold Cobert, with a foreword by Frédéric Beigbeder, joins the prestigious "Legends" collection. On nearly 370 pages, illustrated with over 300 rare and spellbinding photographs, this declaration of love to Paris unfolds through its artistic, social and cultural metamorphoses. From the Belle Époque to the jazz nights of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, from the workshops of Montmartre to the effervescence of the New Wave, from the silhouettes of Dior, Courrèges or Rabanne to the jubilation of the 2024 Olympic Games, each chapter awakens buried memories of a city in perpetual motion. Kiki's Montparnasse, Picasso's Bateau-Lavoir, the years of the Occupation, the glow of the Moulin-Rouge or the rough cobblestones of Rue Muller become scenes from a film in which Paris is the eternal heroine. Paris by Paris is more than just a collection of images: it's a sensory journey, a literary and visual experience, a new way of feeling, inhabiting and dreaming about the city. Available in French and English, the book is presented in a sumptuous case, worthy of the myth it celebrates.
More than just a beautiful book, Paris by Paris is an invitation to rediscover the world's most visited capital in an unexpected light: intimate, cheeky, furiously alive.
Paris by Paris by Ariel Wizman and Harold Cobert
Éditions Assouline, February 2025
