The Enchanted Door

The Enchanted Door chronicles the thrills and excitement of treasure hunts for books - for Africana.

It is the inside story of the amazing and profitable activity that is taking such a hold in this country. A miscellany on bookmen and book collecting in South Africa over the past two hundred years, this work also tells how to collect, what to collect; defines good and enduring Africana, and outlines methods of building up a valuable collection at comparatively small cost.

Africana dealt with here ranges from the chronicles of explorers and bloodthirsty pirates to the frank and scandalous memoirs of characters like Frank Harris and Louis Cohen.

Here are biographies and facts about booksellers, publishers, and a score of others, named and nameless, who give colour and life to the background of Africana book collecting.

Experienced Africana collectors are loath to pass on their hard-won secrets, but here, in this book, for the first time, are the most important of these secrets.

It is intended to entertain and enlighten the man in the street; to pass on to him something of the distilled wisdom, lore and wonder in books called Africana - the legends, myths, the lies and surprising truths...

It is a story often as exciting as a thriller, because here are tales of fabulous finds and fabulous people in the quest for book treasure.

Hardcover with clipped dustcover, several chips and small loss to front bottom dustcover.Illustrated endpapers(maps), xvii plus 257 pages text with illustrations, and tipped newspaper cutting to rear blank. Very clean copy.