#Founder of the Ulysses Bookstore (Librairie Ulysse), the oldest travel
bookstore in the world
Located in central Paris, on the Ile Saint-Louis in the middle of the river
Seine, Librairie Ulysse is the oldest travel bookstore in the world and has more
than 20,000 books, maps and magazines, out of print and new, including some in
English, about all countries and all kinds of travel. It was set up in 1971 by
Catherine Domain, a member of the French National Union of Antiquarian and
Modern Bookstores (Syndicat national de la librairie ancienne et moderne
(SLAM)), the Explorers' Club (Club des Explorateurs) and the International Club
of Long-Distance Travelers (Club international des grands voyageurs).
Catherine has travelled all over the world for many years, visiting 136
countries, and she is still on the move. In 1998 she went sailing in Kiribati
and the Marshall Islands in the the Pacific. In 1999, as a judge in the Island
Book Prize (Prix du livre insulaire) contest, she visited the French island of
Ushant. She also sailed around Sardinia in September.
*Interview of December 4, 1999 (original interview in French)
= Can you tell us about your website?
My site is still pretty basic and under construction. Like my bookstore, it's a
place to meet people before being a place of business.
= How did using the Internet change your professional life?
The Internet is a pain in the neck, takes a lot of my time and I earn hardly any
money from it, but that doesn't worry me...
= How do you see the future?
I'm very pessimistic, because it's killing off specialist bookstores.
= What do you think of the debate about copyright on the Web?
I must say I'm more concerned about the WTO (World Trade Organization) than
about copyright.
= How do you see the growth of a multilingual Web?
Isn't it already multilingual? I think it's going to kill the French language as
well as many others.
= What is your best experience with the Internet?
A daily chat with my sister who lives in Sri Lanka and the friends I have in
Mexico, the USA, the UK, South Africa etc., because I've travelled a lot, for
long periods all over the world.
= And your worst experience?
My first year with a computer and the Internet. It was one long technical agony!