James Joyce

This respectable office building at 338 rue Saint-Honore was once home to one of the more scandalous publishing houses of the twentieth century.

Obelisk: A History of Jack Kahane and the Obelisk Press by Neil Pearson has recently been published.

The nadir of Henry Miller’s life in Paris occurred over the course of several weeks he spent living as a flunky in the apartment of N. P. Nanavati in August, 1930. Nanavati was an Indian pearl merchant whom Miller had met in New York prior to sailing for Paris. Miller impressed Nanavati with the generosity he displayed toward the Hindu telegraph messengers under his employ at Western Union and Nanavati regaled Miller with visions of a “luxurious suite of rooms” he occupied on the impressively named rue Lafayette.