Antoine Beauclair died at the age of 63. Bookseller since 2013 in Sainte-Suzanne (in Mayenne) after having been a bookseller, he first ran a shop in the city at L’Antre du Hibou, rue Fouquet-de La-Varenne.
Cramped in this small shop, in 2018 he seized the opportunity to buy the former Sainte-Marie private school, located rue Dorée in Sainte-Suzanne. And in July of that same year, the Sainte-Marie bouquinerie opened, which has since become the bouquinerie au Fur et à measure.
A place of meetings and poetry
Today, the doors are closed following the death of its creator which occurred on the night of Wednesday October 2 to Thursday October 3, 2024. At the time, Antoine declared: “I want these buildings to become a place of meetings, creations, activities, where music, poetry and reading intersect. »
A successful bet for him. Supported by his traveling companions, Michel Gourlay and Loïc Lebourdais, also book sellers, they created together in 2016 the association Le present de Suzanne with “the objective of carrying out one-off actions in the form of meetings, exhibitions, conferences, events around books with the sole ambition of bringing knowledge of books to the general public”, he explained.
“So that a smile appears”
His discretion, his refusal to step into the light did not hinder his relational side. “He was unusual. In his book shop, you had to go up to him, start a conversation so that a smile appeared and revealed his human qualities and his empathy towards people,” testify the two booksellers. “A lover of old books, a passionate second-hand book seller, a specialist in the history of the Vendée, through his determination he made old books established themselves in the city. In 2021, he had the idea of installing a tea room with the help of Ophélie Grébic to make this place a friendly space. He had been a visionary in coming to settle in this old school, they add.
A moment of contemplation at the bookstore
Rugby was his other passion. Today, with his disappearance, it is like a book that we close after the last word written on the last page. No one knows for the moment the future of the bookstore. The funeral ceremony for Antoine Beauclair will take place on Wednesday, October 9, at 1 p.m., at the Sainte-Suzanne church. It will be followed by a tribute and a moment of contemplation in the bookstore at 4, rue Dorée.
