Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Ukhuphiswano lwenginqgi iSarah Baartman oluxhaswa ngabakwa-SAB
  • A cry, a smile, a dance
  • A high-functioning high school forsaken by the Department of Education
  • If you’re good enough, you’re old enough
  • Beyond just “16 Days” of Activism against Gender-Based Violence
  • Amazwi Museum celebrates African Language week
  • TEM Mrwetyana faces dire desk, chair and teacher shortages
  • What’s on – 02- 09 February 
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»Uncategorized»20 years for Fables Bookshop
Uncategorized

20 years for Fables Bookshop

Busisiwe HohoBy Busisiwe HohoJuly 5, 2010No Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Fables Bookshop opened its doors in January 1990. We had been trading in Johannesburg for some years in the informal sector and wanted a shop.

In 1989 we were on our winter holiday in Port Alfred and came throught to Grahamstown for the day. We found a busy small city, with a university, and no used bookshop!

Fables Bookshop opened its doors in January 1990. We had been trading in Johannesburg for some years in the informal sector and wanted a shop.

In 1989 we were on our winter holiday in Port Alfred and came throught to Grahamstown for the day. We found a busy small city, with a university, and no used bookshop!

So we made our minds up on the spot. That was in July, and we sold up and moved down here at the end of that year. Needless to say we never realised that we had visited during Festival!

Thus the town was often far from as busy as we had hoped. Premises were a problem so the first year we traded above the offices of the lawyers Olckers.

Our first customer was Dr F Gess who relieved us of some fine books at very fair prices! At the end of this first year we moved into the premises where we are still located, courtesy of Mick Rushmere who I visited almost weekly in the search for better High Street premises.

In only 36 square metres we have 10 000 books with more in our store and at home. The Eastern Cape climate is hard on books which sadly deteriorate relatively quickly, especially in the older houses with no dampcourses.

It took a while to get used to this, and we nearly returned to Johannesburg that first year in desperation of ever seeing nice books again.

Fortunately we did not, and patience does reward us in our search for above average condition copies of wanted books.

We were the first book shop in Grahamstown to buy and sell secondhand textbooks for students, which we still do.

While Rhodes University with its students and academics provide many customers, it is only fully operational for eight months of the year.

Thus the National Arts Festival, Schools Fest, SciFest, Rhodes graduation, and other events of the Festival City play an important part in keeping the town busy for us.

In 2000 I started a mailing and book link list for all used book traders in South  Africa. This has run as a no-cost service to the trade for 10 years and provides a forum for discussion of trade-related issues as well as a popular way of searching for wanted books for customers.

We have way  over 100 dealers on there now. Then in 2002 I started the move to found our national book dealers  association, SABDA (the Southern African Book Dealers Association) which today has over 30 leading dealers as members and which is currently engaged in ensuring a fair deal for book dealers who have been caught in  the net of the 2009 Second- Hand Goods Act.

I have been on the committee since the inception of SABDA, as  chairman for the past two years, but am taking the opportunity this year to hand over to new and younger members.

Previous ArticleUmculo osuka kwiThe Soil nasentliziyweni
Next Article National Arts Festival reports attendance of almost 186 000
Busisiwe Hoho

Comments are closed.

Tweets by Grocotts
Newsletter



Listen

The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

Humans of Makhanda

Humans of Makhanda

Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

© 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.