The Biggest, Most Chaotic Used Bookstore in the Southern Hemisphere

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From Ozy:

With two million books, 500,000 vinyls and a 45-year history, this ramshackle family bookstore business has to be seen to be believed.

“You’d be amazed at how much standard stuff we don’t have. Someone phoned looking for Barnaby Rudge the other day,” says Jonathan Klass, owner (with his brother Geoff) of Collectors Treasury in the scruffy heart of Johannesburg. “Two million books isn’t actually that much.”

If you say so. Lined up end-to-end, the books would stretch 310 miles to the coastal city of Durban.

If size matters to you, the eight-story (three floors are closed to the public) Collectors Treasury is the largest used bookstore in the Southern Hemisphere. I’ve definitely seen bigger collections of books in my life — the British Library has 25 million — but I’ve never been so overwhelmed by the presence of books. They’re piled behind the front door (Jonathan had to give it a kick to open it), on the stairs and even in the loo. Dig hard enough and you’ll also unearth maps, documents, half a million records (fifth floor) and other collectibles like vases and lamps (first-floor mezzanine).

“How do you find what you’re looking for?” I ask. “By reading what’s written on the spine,” says Jonathan.

. . . .

Chaotic though it may appear, the books are categorized according to topic (there’s an entire room of first editions and an excellent collection of Africana and Boer War volumes) and arranged alphabetically — “unless a customer’s put something back in the wrong place.” I found a biography of the vastly underrated French author André Gide and a book of Jack Kerouac’s paintings. Look long enough and you’ll also find a book you absolutely have to have. Paperbacks start at R60 ($5), but don’t necessarily expect bargain prices. The “excessively scarce true first edition” of John Fowles’ The Collector (great book, if you haven’t read it) will set you back $10,000. And it’s not even their most expensive book.

Link to the rest at Ozy

PG notes that it’s worth going to the OP just for the photos.