Press · Saint-Germain-des-Prés (7th side) · 7e arrondissement

Éditions Gallimard

The buildingStill standing

Getting inOutside only

What's there nowStill the same

Still the publisher's headquarters at the same address. The street was renamed rue Gaston-Gallimard in 2011; older sources give it as rue Sébastien-Bottin. Offices, not a public interior.

The headquarters of Éditions Gallimard, the publishing house that has issued a large share of modern French literature. Albert Camus worked here as director of a collection, and the street itself was renamed after the publisher's founder in 2011.

Address: 5 rue Gaston-Gallimard (formerly rue Sébastien-Bottin), 75007 Paris
Years: Camus was a director of a Gallimard collection from the 1940s

The place, briefly

Gallimard has been at this address in the seventh arrondissement, a few streets from Saint-Germain-des-Prés, for most of a century. It is the publisher of a striking proportion of modern French literature — including Camus, Proust, Sartre and Beauvoir — and its imprint is close to a definition of the twentieth-century French canon.

The street name is its own piece of evidence. It was the rue Sébastien-Bottin until 2011, when the city renamed it the rue Gaston-Gallimard after the publisher's founder. Older books, letters and bibliographies all give the Sébastien-Bottin address, so both names point at the same door.

Albert Camus was not only published here — he worked here, directing a collection for the house. That is a useful corrective to the image of the novelist-philosopher: for much of his career he was also a working editor, reading other people's manuscripts in an office in the seventh.

It remains the company's headquarters and is not a public building. What you can do is stand on a street named after a publisher, which is not a common thing to be able to do.

Key facts

What it is: The headquarters of Éditions Gallimard
Whom it published: Camus, Proust, Sartre, Beauvoir — a large share of the modern French canon
Camus's role: Director of a collection for the house — a working editor as well as an author
The street name: Rue Sébastien-Bottin until 2011, then renamed rue Gaston-Gallimard
Access: Working offices; exterior only

Timeline

1911
The house that becomes Éditions Gallimard is founded by Gaston Gallimard and others.
1942
Gallimard publishes Camus's L'Étranger.
1940s–50s
Camus directs a collection for the house from these offices.
2011
The rue Sébastien-Bottin is renamed the rue Gaston-Gallimard.

On the map

Questions before you go

Where is Éditions Gallimard?

At 5 rue Gaston-Gallimard in the 7th arrondissement, a few streets from Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The street was the rue Sébastien-Bottin until 2011, so older books and letters give that address — it is the same building.

What was Camus's connection to Gallimard?

He was published by the house — L'Étranger appeared under its imprint in 1942 — and he also worked there, directing a collection. For much of his career he was a working editor reading other people's manuscripts, not only a novelist.

Can you visit?

No — these are working offices, not a public building. The most you can do is stand on a Paris street named after a publisher, which is unusual enough to be worth the detour if you are already in Saint-Germain.

Writers who knew this place

Albert Camus

French Algerian · French Algerian novelist, essayist, journalist and playwright who used the absurd and revolt to ask how people should live without false consolation.

Worked here

Camus directed a collection for Éditions Gallimard from its offices on the then rue Sébastien-Bottin — a working editor as well as the house's author.

— Une balade sur les traces d'Albert Camus à Paris

Within walking distance

The same entrance at 19 rue de Lille in colour, pale green doors between honey-coloured stone piers with carved urns above

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