Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

At first glance, the storefront of Deyrolle at 46 rue du Bac in the 7th arrondissement appears to be like any other on the street. Originally founded in 1831 by Jean-Baptiste Deyrolle, the shop moved to its present location -- the former home of Louis XIV's banker (Fouquet? or maybe Colbert?)-- in 1881. Once you step inside, though, you find yourself in one of the most unusual shops in all of Paris.

Jean-Baptiste loved entomology and sold insects and hunting materials for natural history collectors. Over the years, one thing led to another, and by the time his grandson, Emile Deyrolle, took over the business, in 1866, taxidermy vied with insects as a major source of revenue for the family.


Today, when you walk into the store, there's not much on the ground floor to tell you what the shop is really all about. Elegantly displayed garden equipment and posters, one of the interests of the current owner, Louis Albert de Broglie, outnumber the lone stuffed dog and owl in the window .


Climbing the creaky, narrow, circular stairway to the next floor, however, the sight that greets you is jaw-dropping. Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My! doesn't begin to do it justice! From floor to ceiling is the largest collection imaginable of stuffed animals, large and small skeletons, botanical posters, anatomical posters, and alimentation posters! And drawers and drawers and drawers, crammed with specimens of insects and beetles and shells and corals from all over the world.





It was Emile Deyrolle who, in the later part of the 19th century, first developed a series of colorful posters called the Deyrolle Scholarly Museum, still famous in French schools today. Here's one still in circulation with its distinctive very recognizable graphic style, urging those reluctant students to eat their veggies!





Alongside all the exotic animals, plenty of barnyard and domestic animals also share floor and wall space. Baby lambs, bunny rabbits and baby chicks and ducklings all have their spot, some tucked away in little nooks and crannies. The first time I came here, several years ago, there were also lots of cats and dogs, beloved pets, whose owners thought they wanted to have them in an inanimate form, but then apparently never returned to claim them...

In February 2008, a devastating fire destroyed a significant number of specimens on this floor. Slowly, though, the store has re-emerged from this disaster, replacing an astonishing number of specimens, but not, as far as I could see, anyone's cat or dog!











When we visited last week, the upstairs rooms looked almost as I remembered them. Checking the price tags on some of the more exotic creatures: the polar bear is priced at 22,ooo Euros. I can't imagine, in these days of wildlife conservation, that anyone would actually buy one of the larger animals. Most purchases that we saw, including our own, were for butterfly and beetle specimens, which don't cost very much, and which the proprietor mounts in an elegant specimen box for display.


The larger animals can be rented -- that is, if you want a stuffed baby elephant at your next bbq.....








Recently, it seems that some clever marketing person at the very fancy store, Au Bon Marché, had the idea to rent a couple of specimens, as Sonya and I discovered when we did some window shopping in the store. Voilà, there, alongside some slinky, unbelievably expensive gowns, were a well preserved lion and, caged, a fierce tiger!



And clearly, these two adorable, and very much alive, Pekingese Pooches better watch out. There they sit, in the stationery department of Au Bon Marché, good as gold, but who knows where they may end up....







À bientôt!