The Old Paris

I chanced upon an old book that apparently belonged to G.Giant's great-grandmother (her name's written on the first page). It's a photography book. A book which was once owned by someone who lived for 86 years and who has been gone many years ago, must be something of value, of great value. It is awesome, with exquisite photographs on every page, old photographs. These are not just ordinary photographs of people, but also of places in Paris taken so many years ago, the old Paris. But of course, expect that the photos are in black and white and in not-so-good-quality but you can see details of the subjects photographed clearly enough.

So for someone who's curious about how the Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Paris (Notre Dame Cathedral) looked like 152 years ago (the photo was taken in 1853) or how the famous Palais du Louvre was when Napoléon Bonaparte was still the Emperor of France (now a museum since 1791) and of course the not to forget France's symbol, La Tour Eiffel (The Eiffel Tower), this is the book that answers it all. I was totally amazed and glad to have found this book. I found it in the basement, where we put our worth-throwing-stuff. I was actually down there looking for my old collection of Michael Franks' albums, but helas! I don't know where the hubby put them. Then I found the book. It smells strongly of I-don't-know-how-to-explain-it-odour! It smells 'old'. Its cover is made of oilcloth-covered cardboard. I took it with me up to the apartment and wiped the cover with alcohol as what I always do after buying books (fingerprints disgust me, hehe), and started feuilleter (to leaf through) the pages.



The Notre Dame de Paris.(in 1853 and today, I posted a recent photo to see the difference). Click here for a better view.

An anonymous photographer took these incredible shots. The construction of the Eiffel Tower (1887-1889)At 300 metres (320.75m including antenna), and 7300 tons, it was the tallest building in the world until 1930.Other statistics include: 2.5 million rivets, 15,000 iron pieces (excluding rivets), 40 tons of paint and 1652 steps to the top. Click for a larger version.


Le Palais de Louvre, photo taken in 1839. Click here...

...and here. Le Pont Neuf, Paris' most famous bridge, photo taken in 1861.


What a marvelous discovery of a rare book!

As I was leafing through the pages, I was as though 'returned back' to the past. I started wondering...how these people were, did they live a hand-to-mouth existence? (for some of the photos reveal the situation)...or maybe it was just the so-called simple life, the real one, no chi-chis, no objections, no quibbling over unsignificant things...not like today. And the monuments, as if I was looking at them now...they looked exactly the same except for the houses, fields or farms around them, some of them no longer exist today. The women, they looked hardy...as if they functioned as men... as though they had no choice for if not they won't survive. Some of the images made me feel somewhat pitiful, and yet, I kind of wished to have my life lived in the past. Strange...


Click here...



Tondeurs de chien (Dog groomers), Un Commissionaire (a commissioner) and Une Boulangère (a woman baker with her "rolling" boulangerie (baker's shop) ) Click here for a larger view.


I wonder if I could still find a book like this in a bookstore. Anyways, I'll bring it back into existence, I'll restore it, for my children...