Fifty-eight eclectic shops—as well as the Porte de Vanves and Clignancourt flea markets—are profiled and photographed in this invaluable guide to shopping for that perfect decorative object. Whether you’re searching for garden ornaments, mid-century Scandinavian vases, Grand Tour luggage, monogrammed linen sheets, a train-station clock, Indian textiles, child-sized Thonet furniture, etched glassware, old postcards, or Art Deco lighting, you’ll find clues to their whereabouts in these pages.

The author describes it best:
Antiques aficionados and rummagers of every stripe: call to mind dimly lit attics, trunks smelling of old leather, dusty cartons, and that indescribable tingle of suspense aroused by the idea of a hidden prize which has been lying there, biding its time, waiting for you to find it. If you follow the instructions we have mapped out for you, you might discover almost anything…Armed with this list of Paris addresses, carefully selected to fulfill all your desires, you’ll be equipped with what you need to search for the unknown, unexpected surprise, be it large or small. Paris still contains many mysterious secrets and magical places, which you’ll discover, to your wonderment, as you explore its many second-hand stores, brimming with all sorts of decorative curiosities. At the rear of a courtyard or sheltered by a 19th-century arcade, in a Gothic stone basement or in an ordinary looking shop, you will find a cornucopia of delights at a variety of prices, always with charm.