Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1344682
30 TEXAS BOUND BY SHELBY HODGE S ince opening its first standalone bookshop in Paris in 2006, French publishing house Assouline has redefined the coffee- table book. Their first boutique in Texas has opened in Houston's River Oaks District — a cozy 1,000 square feet, with walls lined in captivating titles covering Assouline's oeuvre of art, architecture, travel, design, and gastronomy. Founders Martine and Prosper Assouline have put their personal stamp on the shop, which is furnished with pieces from the family's Assouline Interiors, including four tomato-red Barcelona chairs and a 20th-century Indo-Persian carpet in the Shiraz style that warms the black-stained hardwood floors. The books are works of art in themselves, incorporating Assouline hallmarks: hand-binding, luxurious papers, hand-tipped photographs, and exquisite packaging. The shop boasts an assemblage of more than 100 of the house's 1,500 titles, including selections from The Impossible Collection; the Houston store will be the only place in Texas to acquire Versailles: From Louis XIV to Jeff Koons Special Edition, $4,900. Signed by author Catherine Pegard, president of the Château de Versailles, this very exclusive book is presented in a velvet clamshell with a sculpted medallion of Louis XIV on the front case. The book is limited to 100 copies and will include, with each purchase, a private tour of Versailles led by a palace curator, including rooms not open to the public. In an effort to preserve the historical grandeur and beauty of Versailles, Assouline will donate 25 percent of each special-edition book to the Château de Versailles. Also included with the book are the requisite white gloves to keep it pristine. Assouline, River Oaks District, 4444 Westheimer Road, assouline.com. Assouline has opened in River Oaks District