When you conjure Barrydale do you think of literature? If you do then you’ve discovered The House of Books.

Situated in Van Riebeeck Street near to ABSA and the OK, one enters through a garden into an atrium of books. On entry turn to the room on your left: books, the passageway: books, in every nook except the bathroom: books. Additionally you’ll find thousands of CDs and DVDs in the hallway and elsewhere.

I live in Suurbraak, and whenever it’s time to fill my jerrycans with drinking water from the Tradouw Pass I extend my journey, order two double espressos from Diesel & Crème, draw some money from the ABSA ATM and then visit Anton.

As I’m interested in unravelling the history of this area and South Africa in general – particularly with the view to trying to understand the early conflicts between Bushmen, Khoi Khoi, Bantu and European – I tend to gravitate to the room at the end of the passageway which houses Africana. More recently I’ve invested, because it is an investment, in four volumes of Theal’s History of South Africa before 1505 until 1872, Jan H. Hofmeyr’s South Africa, Spilhaus’s The first South Africans and the laws that governed them and Vulliamy’s Outlanders.

I’ve also purchased a number of excellent CDs to listen towhile doing the pass.

Anton’s a photographer and you’ll see his work on display throughout. Quirky, gritty, angled – almost every image spoke directly to me. See if you agree:

So if you value books, enjoy CDs and/or want to expose yourself to some stunning images then visit House of Books next time in Barrydale, and if you’re lucky Anton might be at hand to enrich your visit with suggestions and ruminations on his stock, Barrydale and the meaning of life.