Known for having caused a sensation last year in the show “Who wants to be my partner? », Frédéric Douin made a new appearance on the M6 show this month. The ex-candidate, both bookseller and publisher, wants to “discover old works that deserve better than oblivion”. Last May, it was less his passion than his personal story, that of a man rebuilding himself after defeating a brain tumor, which moved investor Éric Larchevêque. The latter had promised to invest 180,000 euros in his business to help him start from scratch, against 45% of the shares of the company. A year later, Frédéric Douin opened the doors of his new workshop in 20 minutes.
Chin buried in his parka but eyes shining, the bookseller presents his new premises of 500 square meters, unearthed in the farm of Fromenteau, in Pecqueuse (Essonne). There is no heating yet, and the layout of the shelves is not finished, but the books are there. Hundreds of boxes of books are strewn on the ground of the building. Starting from nothing, he proudly asserts that his stock now has between 20,000 and 25,000 books. “Eventually, the premises should be able to contain around 60,000,” he estimates.
Do as much as possible, as quickly as possible
The bookseller-publisher is impatient to expand his business, but illness keeps him from moving forward. “A few months after the show, I developed a new cancer,” he explains. A prospect all the more frustrating as he feels no symptoms and feels in great shape. “Only the MRIs don’t show the same thing and I had to go back to chemo,” he says. When he then suggested to his investor to withdraw his proposal, the latter simply replied: “Your old books have been in boxes for ten years. A year more or less will not change much. We continue what was planned. »
Frédéric Douin finally got him to invest only half of the planned sum, ie 90,000 euros, against 22% of the company’s shares. “With everything that’s happened to me, I didn’t feel comfortable accepting so much money,” he says. I didn’t want to slam it all down for the project to end up falling through. Resigned, the man made the decision not to go through with his chemotherapy. Over and over, he repeats that he must move forward as quickly as possible, because he has a lot to do and little time ahead of him. “I hope to last two years,” he sighs. I know I won’t get over it. »
His big project for Ukraine
Even though time is so precious to him, this enthusiast could talk to you for hours about each book in his collection. One of them, in particular, is close to his heart: the Pax Mundi, a work published to promote peace at the dawn of World War II. A hundred personalities of the time signed the book, and not the least. Among them are Conan-Doyle, Albert Einstein, Aristide Briand, Louis Lumière and Paul Valéry.
Inspired by the book, Frédéric Douin is preparing an ambitious project. In the midst of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, he would like to repeat the Pax Mundi in a limited edition of 100 copies, each book of which would be enriched by the vision of a contemporary personality on peace. These copies would then be auctioned off, with proceeds going to the Red Cross. It now only remains to find personalities ready to participate. Hurry up.