A man has lifted the lid on owning the oldest bookshop on London Road.
Michael McCabe, from Seaforth, set up his second hand bookshop, Henry Bohn, in 1988. His first shop opened on the corner of Berry Street and Seel Street, at the site of an established store next to the Blue Angel nightclub.
Michael's business all began when he couldn't afford a bill in the 1980s. As an avid book collector, Michael took some of them to a car boot sale to raise some much needed cash. However, this landed him in hot water after he was seen and reported to the social security who threatened to stop his benefits.
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But he was given an alternative - go on the Enterprise Allowance scheme, where he would get £40 a week for a year and which didn't require him to sign on because he would be classed as "self-employed." This is when Henry Bohn was born.
He gave the shop the name Henry Bohn by chance after it was chosen on the spur of the moment when Michael was asked what he was going to call the shop when he first opened a bank account while on the Enterprise scheme in the 1980s.
The real Henry Bohn was in fact a Victorian-era bookseller, publisher and author of Anglo-German parentage. After opening and closing a number of stores, Michael and his wife Anis moved into their current premises on and into a former jeweller's shop in London Road, where they have been for the past 13 years.
Speaking to the ECHO about life at his bookshop, Michael shared the types of books he sells, ones he bans and the customers who walk into his store each day. On his favourite book, Michael said he can't choose.
He told the ECHO: "I couldn't tell you my favourite book because there are so many books when you read and so many subjects. I am interested in literary books, ancient history, politics philosophy, all types of things, astronomy, all types of things."
The bookshop owner said the oldest books in his store date back to the 1600s and personally knows of one book he has which dates back to 1501. Michael said he usually acquires books through people who have died and their family wanting to donate them.
He said: "Usually, sadly it is someone who has died and their relatives ring up and [want to give away books] or they're moving, downsizing or getting rid of them anyway because they are fed up. Mostly, majority of things is because someone has died."
Michael added: "It's really broadened my horizon and opened my eyes to how many good books there are that people have passed on the radar or don't know about. Or that the authorities don't want you to read."
On books he bans, Michael said it was the usual things like "pornography or mad right-wing or mad left-wing". Michael added he also has many customers asking for books on serial killers which he's "not very keen on".
Michael said he has many customers who have specific interests, he said: "One interesting thing is you meet people here who are absolute experts in a subject but they have never been to university or never passed an exam in their lives. I know of one man, who is a builder, and is interested in Egyptology.
"He was once in conversation with a noted Egyptologist and this Egyptologist was really impressed and said 'where did that man get his knowledge from' but he had never been to university he just learnt himself and there's so many people like that.]
"Never got any qualifications but they know more than the people with qualifications. They have got an interest in the subject, they not getting the qualifications for a job but they are doing it because they have interest in the subject and they can take ion more knowledge because they are taking it in all the time."
He runs the shop with his wife Anis, 56, who has a Maths degree from India and is also a qualified nutritionist. Although no stock take has ever been carried out, it is estimated the current premises has around 15,000 books over its two trading floors, with even more stacked up in a storage area.
The majority of the books are arranged according to subject on wooden shelves, but many are also spilling out on to the floor space and filling every crevice. The shop is a London Road landmark thanks to the antique clock on the outside - a remnant from the shop's previous incarnation as Brown's the jewellers - which unfortunately no longer works because it would cost thousands of pounds to fix.
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