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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
IllustrationPedestrians passing the sunlit pale-stone Éditions Gallimard headquarters

A bright present-day reconstruction of the discreet street frontage; all people are newly generated.

Editorial illustration

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

In images

The working Gallimard headquarters at 5 rue Gaston-Gallimard, outside view only.Editorial illustration
A bright present-day reconstruction of the discreet street frontage; all people are newly generated.Editorial illustration
Historically informed reconstruction of the headquarters around 1947, during Camus's years as a working editor for the house.Artistic reconstruction
The documented rue Sébastien-Bottin façade in natural color; the anonymous staff, vehicle and exact colors are interpretive.Artistic reconstruction
The private formal garden and pavilion within Gallimard's headquarters campus.Editorial illustration
A closer garden view of the pavilion's arched windows, pink pilasters and split stone stairs.Editorial illustration
A documented exterior experience within the private garden; no inaccessible office interior is invented.Editorial illustration

Timeline

  1. 1911

    The house that becomes Éditions Gallimard is founded by Gaston Gallimard and others.

  2. 1942

    Gallimard publishes Camus's L'Étranger.

  3. 1940s–50s

    Camus directs a collection for the house from these offices.

  4. 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

Illustrated portrait of Albert Camus

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

Colour photorealistic view of 14 rue Saint-Guillaume beneath a bright blue sky

Apartment · Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin (7th)

14 rue Saint-Guillaume

The Paris home of the lawyer Walter Berry, Edith Wharton's closest friend and literary adviser for forty years — and the man who eventually took over the lease of her apartment on the rue de Varenne.

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

Press · Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Black Sun Press (19 Rue de Lille)

The Paris town house of Harry and Caresse Crosby, and the address of the Black Sun Press, which published D. H. Lawrence, James Joyce, Hemingway and Hart Crane in editions made to be beautiful rather than to sell.

Visit the place
The Hôtel Verneuil today, white façade with a green front door, planted window boxes, and lanterns along the rue de Verneuil

Hotel · Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Hôtel Verneuil

The Left Bank hotel where James Baldwin settled after arriving in Paris in November 1948, and where his first published essays were written.

Visit the place
Michaud's corner façade in warm evening light, red awning and gilded lettering over the terrace tables

Restaurant · Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Michaud's

The smart restaurant of the quarter — where the hungry Hemingways watched the Joyce family dine, and where F. Scott Fitzgerald asked the question answered in 'A Matter of Measurements.'

Visit the place
References

References

The sources below include histories, archival materials, scholarly research, and official records that informed this page. They document Éditions Gallimard, the people connected to it, and its place in Paris.

  1. 1Une balade sur les traces d'Albert Camus à Paris

    Website
    Ville de Paris
    Used for

    The city's Camus walk gives Éditions Gallimard at 5 rue Sébastien-Bottin as the office where he directed a collection.

    View source

  2. 2OpenStreetMap

    Map data
    Used for

    Map data used to verify addresses, geographic coordinates, and the placement associated with Éditions Gallimard.

    View source

  1. 3Albert Camus – Bibliography

    Website
    Nobel Prize Outreach
    Used for

    Web source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the Éditions Gallimard page.

    View source

  2. 4Simone de Beauvoir

    Website
    Éditions Gallimard
    Used for

    Web source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the Éditions Gallimard page.

    View source
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Why these sources are here

These references provide the documented foundation for this page's history and context. Claim-level citations remain attached to the specific claims they support.

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