"A few years ago I began collecting vintage images through online auctions. From the beginning, my favorite seller was La Bonne Vivante. The images are always beautiful, always amazing, and always delivered at the fastest speed possible. I am a multi-media artist incorporating vintage imagery into my art practice and I continually return to La Bonne Vivante because Michele Ridley-Cook has a keen eye for the interesting, the compelling, and the authentic. It truly is “always a pleasure”." 
                      --Sonya A. Lawyer

"La Bonne Vivante is a goldmine for the academic and armchair collector of vintage photography and ephemera from the distant yesterday. Every item offered is a snapshot of the African American experience, a diverse experience captured in a single moment in time and conveying a story. The images challenge any notion about a people presumed to be monolithic. Recorded for posterity at La Bonne Vivante are a people wanting to write in pictures their own diverse stories absent the stereotypes of their day, attempting to define the soul of the African American character. If La Bonne Vivante were to have a motto, there could be none other more fitting than a quote by scholar Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw when she wrote on the subject of the black American wanting to visualize himself for himself: "The important move from the margins of somebody else’s portrait into the center of one’s own cannot be overstated."

As a professional dramatist and writer, the unique quality of the photographs I purchased have serve to inspire me with creativity. I look at a photograph and wonder about the people frozen in time within them. Allowing me to be inspired is freedom from worry about my purchases as La Bonne Vivante takes professional and dependable service to a level beyond reproach."

"Michèle-Louise of La Bonne Vivante found the perfect addition to the African American Collection of Maine and then contacted us, I did not have to go to her. We are a research collection at a public comprehensive university. This photograph album of African Americans vacationing in Maine has now become the project for a student completing a history internship. La Bonne Vivante helped us support the academic mission of the University."

"Whether we are aware of it or not, our hearts are always searching for that which is true and authentic, and when found we embrace it fully.

The photos one finds at La Bonne Vivante are images that reflect what is true and authentic, found in the midst of everyday life. It is in the seemingly monotonous routine of the everyday that some of the most beautiful images of humanity are found. It is a spiritual power behind these images that attract, that speak to one's heart.

Michele-Louise of La Bonne Vivante finds these images and sets them aside, giving us the opportunity to view what may have gone unnoticed or discarded altogether. These images are not only visually captivating but thought provoking and educational. Michele-Louise is in many ways a teacher. The images she brings forward teach us about ourselves, speaking not only to African-Americans but to all people, not only about our past but where we find ourselves today.

Michele-Louise also has the unique ability to transcend the Internet boundary of her shop La Bonne Vivante. In every transaction I have made with Michele-Louise she has provided a "personal presence." She answers all my questions promptly and delivers the images I purchase safely into my hands. Thank you Michele-Louise." 

              --The Rev. Rick Headly