Charlie Hebdo hits U.S. stores
NEW YORK - After flying off the shelves of French kiosks by dawn on the day of its Wednesday release, the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo is coming to stores in the United States.
Those on the staff of the satirical French paper who survived the terror attack last week put out the now famously defiant, and provocative, new issue that hit French newsstands Wednesday with a print run of 3 million. A precious few of those copies made their way to the U.S. Friday. Before the magazine went on sale, some bookstores were able to obtain copies solely for display.
Book Culture, in the Upper West Side neighborhood of New York, received its two display copies at noon Friday, brought by Catherine Lamy, of Uni-presse, an organization that promotes French press overseas.
"We wanted to be sure that we can put them in different places where they can in fact be consulted by anyone who wants to see them," Lamy said. More issues will be made available to such bookstores for sale next week, she said.
Book Culture owner Chris Doeblin said that while interest in the new issue has been high, especially for a paper not previously distributed in the U.S., his decision to sell them isn't about business.
"It's not something that we're going to profit on in the sense that we're going to sell the magazine and make money off of it," said Doeblin. "But it's not a business decision. It's a decision to stand up for the right to free speech."
Another Manhattan bookstore that received display copies is Albertine Books. As of Friday morning, international magazine shops in New York like Around The World and Magazine Cafe said they intended to sell the issue but did not know when they would have copies. Employees at the stores estimated that they would not be available for sale until the weekend or Monday. According to reports, magazine distributor Ingram Content Group does not have plans to sell the issue and neither does Barnes & Noble. Hudson Group said it was "making inquiries as to how to obtain the next issue."
The French-American news site FrenchMorning.com has been following where and when the magazine will be available and offers email alerts to those trying to track down a copy Stateside.
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