Catherine Domain, the first travel bookseller
"Books are like unknown lands, and readers, their explorers." This is how he compares his two great passions Catherine Domain , founder of Ulysses , a pioneering bookstore specializing exclusively in travel books .
The idea came to him between Colombo and Surubaya. At that time, this woman born in the French Algeria She had been going around for a decade: from the Patagonian pampas to the deserts of Mongolia, from Cape Town to Cairo, from France to Nepal in a hippie trail minibus... With no other pretext beyond the curiosity.
She spent her dowry money traveling the globe; instead of marrying, she swore eternal love to the strange and remote . She knew from experience how difficult it was to get information and guides from countries where she was the first tourist. That's why she ** in 1971 she opened a tiny bookstore in Paris **, in the st louis island.
Twenty-five square meters where all the continents and oceans are condensed. First obligatory stopover for writers and travellers. Here they have landed Bruce Chatwin, Nicolas Bouvier, Théodore Monod, Michel Peissel, T'serstevens … either Hugo Pratt and Ella Maillart (These last two were Ulysse's godparents, too).
Catherine, among her mountains of books
And no, it is not just any bookstore: “This is an old-fashioned specialized bookstore”, warns a sign in Ulysse. “It is not a self-service type of department store and buquinista. This is not a library . You can't find a book on your own; Instead, you can set human relations with the bookstore , if you wish. For those who don't get the hint: there are three rows of books on each shelf, dense enough to cause falls, and a single bookcase to place them in the precise order . In summary: unformatted library with a single search engine ”. We talked to that engine, to Catherine, and through the phone.
"Reading is fine, but it is better to go and see." Do you agree with Ella Maillart's phrase?
It's not better, it's different. reading is a extraordinary evasion that she has been experiencing since she was 10 years old, when she was boarding school (the Couvent des Oiseaux). I missed my family, I was bored all day and my only desire was to meet Alexandre Dumas by the light of my flashlight , under the sheets, and live all the adventures of the three musketeers, visit with Stevenson the island of the treasure , that jules verne take me to the end of the world, etc.
And what was your first big trip outside the pages of a book?
The first trip I made was when I was 11 years old, to a boarding school for Irish nuns in England; I took the plane alone and I suddenly found myself in a world where I didn't understand the language, the words sounded like Chinese to me, the food seemed pretty disgusting, the customs unbelievable...
In summary: a deeply shocking universe . It was like cutting my umbilical cord… a tremendous feeling of independence invaded me!
Later in 1959 When I was 17, I got a scholarship from the American Field Service to spend a year with a family in California; That stay was so extraordinary that I said to myself: “If this country, the United States, is so wonderful and so different from mine… what will the rest of the Earth be like, I have to know it! ”.
And you spent a decade traveling non-stop… Cavafis already said it, right? "When you start your journey to Ithaca ask that the road be long, full of adventures". Tell us some of your experiences.
Most have been pleasant experiences (such as a crush I had in Leptis Magna ), but I have also been in some dangerous situations: a earthquake in New Guinea, a gun threat in Syria …
Catherine in Syria
And were your parents already okay with having her 18-year-old daughter stumbling around who knows where?
My father was happy to see his daughter wake up; he was funny, because... He was very envious of him! As for my mother, he told me: “When you leave, I imagine that you are dead; if not, she would be worried all the time.”
The second time you went around the world you were on a budget of a dollar a day. What's the trick?
There is no trick: eat bananas, wash yourself in the toilets of the 5 stars hotels, sleep in a built-in wardrobe or on a kitchen table, keep an eye on your wallet and know that if you exceed the established budget, the duration of the trip is shortened. Anyway, forty or fifty years ago a dollar was a considerable sum of money …
Did you travel alone?
In my debuts I traveled with roland , a friend who was still hooked like a remora to a shark; he taught me everything about the trip: to save, to be cautious … But when I let go of him, I loved that of moving as I pleased and live day to day without compromising with anyone . The best thing is to travel alone, unquestionably.
Catherine Domain in Borobudur
Was it risky for a woman to travel like this, alone, in the sixties?
Being a woman has always opened many doors for me... The dangerous thing is getting into situations from which you cannot escape. When it got dark it was safer shelter than wandering alone through bars and clubs. Just have to have common sense, assess risks and be a bit of an actress if the circumstance requires it: never show fear , seem like you know exactly where you're going and what you're doing, inventing a job or a big husband...
Is it still necessary to interpret this comedy today?
I think in some countries yes, it depends on the male population. In any case, the trip has changed a lot; now, seeing the hordes that spread everywhere, the natives are more used to meeting single women.
Let's go back to Ella Maillart: “Touring the world only serves to kill time. You return just as dissatisfied as you leave. Something more needs to be done." Is that why you became a bookseller?
After ten years of wandering, I was fed up with my little suitcase ( I never go with a backpack, because they tag you right away ) . I wanted to do something in life, not always be somewhere else... I concluded that the only option to be independent and continue traveling even though I was fixed in one place was open a travel bookstore , something that did not exist anywhere else in the world.
There is a "travel bookstore" in London, Stanford's, which was founded in 1853...
Yes, true, but in its beginnings it did not sell more than maps . The Ulysse bookstore, as I conceived it in 1971 , offers a varied documentation , with books, magazines and maps, new, old and used, on all countries and subjects. This did not exist anywhere else, and the best proof of this is that all travel bookstores created below have been through Ulysse before or by one of his emulators.
Catherine at Ulysse Bookstore
In Spain there is the Altaïr bookstore, for example.
His founder, Alberto Padrol , He is my friend! And he just had the idea after discovering Ulysse. Leaving my bookstore, he commented to his wife: “ And if we do the same in Barcelona? ” “Of course, go ahead!” I encouraged them. Now there are travel bookstores so beautiful that I get a little envious when I see their photos in magazines.
And what future awaits these establishments, with competition from Amazon?
The future of bookshops is threatened, at least in France; but the virtual cannot fully satisfy us , it is necessary to get out of oneself, establish contacts. Confrontation with physical reality is vital , travel is a confrontation with the physical reality of a place and its roots in time, and a travel bookstore is the beginning of this physical confrontation, especially when the bookstore that advises you has experience as a traveler. The book stimulates reflection and curiosity; It's essential, but... Will you know how to keep fighting? On the other hand, I also wonder: Is it serious that the culture changes its support? Personally, it seems to me that the influence of screens on children is not sufficiently considered, the speed of copying and pasting, the speed of forgetting …
And the speed of travel! Has Ryanair killed the thoughtful and slow journey?
There still being thoughtful and slow travelers , what happens is that they have never been numerous, neither now nor before.
Catherine Domain in a Korean temple
That is why travel literature is not abundant either...
That's exactly why I created the Pierre Loti Award in 2006 , to recognize the best travel stories in french.
The finalists of this 2019 have been Daniel Vigne (with La maison des hommes), Marc Alaux (Ivre de steppes), Jean-François Diné (De Tahití à Singapour), Nicolas Jolivot (Japan, à pied sous les volcans) and Jean- Yves Fredriksen (Vol au-dessus de l'Himalaya). All men…
There are not too many women yet, no, but they will come.
Recommend us a travel book written by a woman.
The most beautiful travel book written by a contemporary woman of ours is L'Antivoyage , of Muriel Cerf . When I read it, I thought: "It's not worth breaking your head, you can never do better!". Then, looking back, we have Alexandra David-Néel, Ella Maillart, Odette du Puigaudeau, Anita Conti … and all the authors who wrote in the magazine Le Tour du Monde.
It must be difficult to choose a favorite among the more than twenty thousand books that you treasure in Ulysse...
For me, the most precious books are those that cannot be found on the Internet; its price can be minimum , but that does not prevent them from being exemplary valuable and rare . The most beautiful work in my library is The usage of the world (The ways of the world), by Nicholas Bouvier . Nicolas was a friend of mine, and this book is the very essence of the journey; although when it was published it wasn't very successful, because people weren't traveling yet and they didn't understand it.
To get to know a country, a travel guide or better literature and poetry?
Knowing a country requires a lot of time, and everything is useful. The best is read before you go (a guide, so as not to miss places of interest), read during (poetry) and read after (everything) .
They say that you are able to find any unfindable book... Is it true?
Well, I have my means… And my clientele does not like revised, modified and corrected reissues.
Catherine in Senegal
What is the last gem you got?
Ecuador , the travel diary Henri Michael , in its original edition.
This facet of yours could explain why you are a member of the French Explorers Society (you have also received an award from the Spanish Geographical Society and the French Order of National Merit)… Do you consider yourself an explorer?
Absolutely. But this does not mean that he has been in places where I have been the first tourist.
In addition, you are a member of the International Club of Great Travelers, to which only those who have visited at least fifty countries can belong. How many do you carry?
Well, I don't know anymore, because countries as soon as they appear as they disappear, but about a hundred and eighty …
And with what destinations would you like to expand the number?
With Mozambique , with an architectural route through ancient and ultramodern cities of China, with Guilin, Cambodia and Laos , with the Juan Fernandez Island , with the Parisian island of Platais … But it is not an exhaustive list!
Pierre Loti —who, by the way, was a good friend of Catherine's father— commented: “The spirit falls asleep with the habit of traveling; one gets used to everything… to the most unique exotic places and the most amazing faces”. Answer him.
It is the reflection of a sailor who does not want to disembark from his ship, which often happens!
Do you still travel with the same spirit as at the beginning?
I hope so! It's just that now it's harder to avoid the crowds... I take one big trip a year, usually by sailboat, by the Mediterranean or the Pacific . One of my most beautiful sailings was to the Kiribati islands.
Catherine in the Seychelles
You have a soft spot for islands, don't you? Ulysse herself is in one (although the water that surrounds her is not that of an ocean, but that of the Seine). You have even founded the Club of the small islands of the world (formed by those with less than 3,000 inhabitants or that can be traveled on foot in 24 hours). Why are you so attracted to island geographies?
Because the islanders are forced to leave, or at least have the feeling that they can leave and escape the oppression of the confinement. I adore the Tahitians, capable of jumping onto a ship that sails without any forethought. I love too humanity, flora and fauna that thrives on an island in a completely original way depending on the terrain, the climate, the history... Their endemism makes them fascinating.
The question here is unavoidable: calm down, we are not going to ask you what book you would take to a desert island, but for a book that makes us travel, reading, to an island.
La dernière île By Bernard Gorsky. It is out of print, but we will always have Defoe and Robinson Crusoe! Oh, and he would take me to a desert island (plus paper and pencils to write on) a book I hadn't read , with the pages to be opened, still virgin on my shelf, and that had nothing to do with destiny, to live a journey other than the physical journey.
Cath on a motorcycle in the mid 70's
“Why travel so much if we can find the answer and wisdom in books?”, Ella Maillart lectured, and continued: “I'm not at all bookish; words are not enough for me. I need to meet the people in whom that wisdom resides.”
I always say that travel has been my university ; In them I have learned difference, tolerance, admiration, humility... I travel for the desire to discover everything and by an unconscious need to be somewhere else, far away. However, for me traveling is not an escape, nor is it a vacation, it is continuing to live but in a lighter way.
Catherine Domain says goodbye with a cordial voyageusement in emails; something like "travellingly".
TRAVEL PREFERENCES OF CATHERINE DOMAIN
An ocean: the Pacific
An island: Mozambique, which I have not yet visited
A desert: Sinai
A mountain: Rocks of Aya
A river: the Irrawaddy
A town: Monflanquin
A city: Venice
A hotel: Raya, in Panarea
A museum: Bilbao Guggenheim
A cafe-restaurant : the one at the Topkapi Palace-Museum
A meal: the lentils from Mafate, on Reunion Island.
A music : Cape Verde.
A transportation mean: the camel.
A souvenir: the nautical charts of the Pacific in wood and shells that I have in the bookstore
See sunrise or sunset: both, aboard the Volpaia. The most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen was at Les Deux Jumeaux beach in Hendaye, and sunset, a green glow in Croatia.
SCHEDULE YOUR VISIT TO THE ULYSSE BOOKSTORE
Every first Wednesday of the month (except January) at 6:30 p.m., the CargoClub meets in front of Ulysse, a spontaneous meeting for exchange information and experiences on voyages on merchant ships. “I went by cargo ship when it was cheaper than the plane. They are expensive, long and desperate trips”.
Catherine Domain created this group in 1993 , to which all kinds of globetrotters, readers and dreamers are really welcome. “Next April 3 we have a special CargoClub-motorcycle : Emmanuelle is going to start her solo tour of Europe on a motorcycle from the bookstore; her godfather will be kim hong , who left Besançon for Vladivostok also alone and on a motorcycle (she won the 2018 Pierre Loti Prize with her story Magadan), and her godmother will be Anne France Dhauteville, who at 75 has just published at the Payot publishing house The old woman who drives motorcycles (The old woman who drove motorcycles) ”.
Appointments are not canceled (raincoat and umbrella recommended in case of rain). And there's no need to register anywhere to attend, just bring a aperitif.
Catherine visiting a temple in Indonesia
Address: 26 Rue Saint-Louis en l'Île, Paris See map
Schedule: From Tuesday to Friday, from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Also outside these hours, by appointment, in case of urgency.