The Book Village, in the Libournais, is an atypical place that brings together 500,000 second-hand books, including rare and old books.
Visits are organized as part of the European days of mills and millstone heritage, this Saturday.
At the head of a colossal reserve of several million pounds, the Village has original storage solutions, in particular in old peanut silos, still present on the site.
This is an area where the book is king.
At the Village du livre, located in Sablons in the Libournais, the profusion of books is striking.
The vast rooms of this former seigneurial domain of the 14th century which belonged to the Laubardemont family, are full of books from floor to ceiling.
The places, steeped in history since an oil mill succeeded the milling activity at the end of the 19th century, can be visited as part of the European Days of Mills and Millstone Heritage, this Saturday.
"I'm looking for a magazine called Satanics, a comic from the 60s" asks a gentleman in the room devoted to comics, visibly in search of a childhood memory.
The second-hand bookstore, which offers 500,000 references in its shop and nearly four times as many online, particularly attracts lovers of rare and old books.
"For research, the best is when you remember the title, comments Andréa Dumet, host on the Village since it opened to the public in May 2017."
A crazy private project
It was in 2011 that Didier Rodriguez, a book lover, bought the estate.
“There were still peanuts in the silos then,” says Andréa Dumet.
He initiates a lot of work on the site.
Since 2001, Didier Rodriguez has recovered thousands of pounds in the context of store takeovers, from individuals during estates and during auctions.
Anxious to participate in the preservation of cultural and paper heritage, the Village does not refuse any donations.
The site is so big that it is impossible to heat it properly, small huts, designed by the artist Max Cabirol, have been fitted out in each thematic room to allow data entry operators to work in the warmth in winter.
Stained glass is also installed on the glass surfaces, to prevent UV rays from damaging the precious books.
The Village du livre's website, le livre.fr, allows the cultural enterprise to survive, but it also supplies the giants of online commerce such as Amazon and e-bay.
“Many people have been looking for books for years and find them on our site and they thank us for it,” says Andréa Dumet.
We don't have many more offers than the others, we add 500 every day.
» The Village du Livre ships 70 to 160 orders a day, 50% of which go abroad (United States, Australia, etc.)
Silos for storing books
To store these considerable quantities of books, the Village uses silos present on the site, without UV or humidity, which offer ideal conditions for their conservation.
Circular shelves accommodate boxes, labeled by some of the company's 16 employees, on six floors.
Their references will then be entered and put online to add to the database.
Kilometers of shelves that make you dizzy and also explain that the Village is looking to recruit new people to deal with the colossal sorting and referencing undertaking.
The silos, not accessible to the public, are not sufficient to store all the works.
A huge hangar, on the same site, is furnished with metal shelves and Didier Rodriguez, who does not intend to slow down, has just bought an old paper mill
Not just books
The 5,000 m2 of the Village, which is open to the public, has an air of paradise for enthusiasts of original editions, books signed by authors, publishers' bindings in foreign languages, etc.
Others come for music scores, old instruments, collections of paintings, postcards, old toys, models, etc.
A real Ali Baba's cave where collectors (of vinyl records, wine labels, stamps etc.) and book lovers come to search for hours.
Rooms devoted to coins, stamps and postmarks are also open by appointment.
A small steam train, of which an original carriage remains, thrones in the courtyard in front of the Village, recalling the industrial past of the place.
A flea market is also offered to visitors and the Village organizes canoe trips on the nearby Isle in fine weather.
To contribute to the financing of this atypical place, the entrance is proposed at 8 euros in full price and 6.50 for the reduced price, it is free for children under 14 years old.
The Book Village is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Two guard dogs monitor the site to ensure that the precious shelves are protected from unwanted visits.
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