One for the Books

How a tiny town in southern France became a magnet for bibliophiles.

- Lorna Parkes

SET BETWEEN TWO RIVERS in the foothills of the Black Mountains, the town of Montolieu has all the dreamy trappings of French country life. I arrived from London around breakfast time to find empty lanes that ran through tiny plazas to a large buttressed Gothic church. Wooden shutters in cornflower blue and poppy red echoed the colors of the region's wildflowers. But around 10 a.m., gears shifted. Shutters opened and trestle tables laden with books began to multiply in the streets. Browsers arrived and began sifting through the volumes.

While other villages in this region rest on their charming, sleepy laurels, Montolieu has spent the past 30 years building a fizzing arts community. Though it has just 821 inhabitants-and no ATMs-the town is remarkable for its 16 bookstores, more than 20 public and private art studios, and a cosmopolitan population that hails from around the globe. (During my visit, word on the street was that an Israeli pop star had recently bought a house there.)

It all started in 1990, when Michel Braibant, a Belgian bookbinder who was living in nearby Carcassonne, began encouraging collectors and small-business owners to open bookshops in Montolieu and, later, helped raise funds to create the Musée des Arts et Métiers du Livre, a space dedicated to the practice of bookbinding. (Braibant was reportedly inspired by Hayon-Wye, a town in Wales with a similar bibliophile focus.)