About Us

I'm Le Bookiniste, also known as John Leger. And I've been a book accumulator / hoarder / collector for as long as I can remember. Now I've decided to turn my love of books into a business.

I have been a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal, working in New York, Brussels, London, and Hong Kong (in the latter case, for The Journal's sister publication, the Far Eastern Economic Review).

From 2003 to 2013, I was an editor in the Journal Reports group near Princeton, overseeing reports on a wide variety of topics, including the annual Technology Innovation Awards, wealth management (not that I would know anything about that), philanthropy, energy and the environment, and country reports on Germany, Brazil, South Korea, and Canada. I left the Journal in 2013 to start this bookselling business.

 

Yeah, OK, but What's a 'Bookiniste'?

 

Ever been to Paris? Oui? Did you notice those green boxes along the Seine where you can buy books? Those booksellers are called bouquinistes. I merely Anglicized the name because I live in the U.S., I have a French name, and I wanted to honor the people selling books in all kinds of weather. I don't sell from a green box but you can find me at book fairs along the East Coast. And, of course, right here online. 

I am a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA), the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB), the Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA), the Bibliographical Society of America, the American Printing History Association, and the Ephemera Society of America. I am also a Council member of the Friends of the Princeton University Library.