Collectors Treasury

Well over one million items are crammed into nearly every inch of an eight-story building in Johannesburg’s CBD. It’s the largest shop selling rare and used books in Africa, and potentially the entire Southern Hemisphere.

Visitors to Collectors Treasury will find themselves stumbling into a plethora of second-hand books as soon as they enter the door. The books are packed into every corner and wedged atop any surface that will support them. They line the walls, are stacked into towering piles, and even occupy a bit of space in the elevator.

Take some time browsing through the seemingly endless maze of literary delights to unearth some real treasures! Keep your eyes peeled while scanning the floor-to-ceiling shelves to spot some rare finds from around the world, such as first-edition prints and books that are no longer even published.

Collectors Treasury also has maps, prints, engravings, newspapers, photographs, and thousands of vinyl records and 78 rpm discs, as well as a small selection of decorative art antiquities.

It’s a mystery to most how the store keeps track of its enormous collection, and yet brothers Jonathan and Geoffrey Klass have managed to keep the family business growing. They founded the store in 1974 in a shop above a garage, and have obviously had to relocate to a space large enough to hold their massive stock.