Fifteen Eighty Four

George Whitman, the 95-year-old American owner of the iconic Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris has just received one of France’s highest honors: Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters. This award is rarely given to foreigners. Congratulations!

A Bloomberg article tells the story of a new force at the bookstore, daughter Sylvia Beach Whitman. She installed the store’s first telephone, and is working to clean the place up a bit.