Farewell to a Johannesburg bookseller extraordinaire

Geoffrey Klass’s life was books of every different discipline and subject matter, and his knowledge about them was encyclopaedic. So, it’s no wonder that he leaves behind more than two million books in the eight-storey Collectors Treasury in Commissioners Street, Johannesburg.

Klass, an extraordinary bookseller, passed away on 27 February after a short illness.

He and his brother, Jonathan, founded Collectors Treasury, a treasure trove of books and antiques. Over five decades, the shop on the many levels of the building in which it now inhabits, has become a Johannesburg institution.

Geoff was born in 1948 to Dr Max Klass , a psychiatrist, and his wife, Maisie (née Goldberg), in Johannesburg. His grandparents, Solomon and Zelda Klass, were Lithuanian immigrants.

Geoff attributed his love of books and book collecting to his father, Max, as books were part of  the family home in Parktown West. Maisie was an avid  collector of antiques.

Geoff matriculated at Parktown Boys’ High School and went on to read for a BSc at the University of the Witwatersrand, graduating in 1972. His next degree was a Bachelor of Philosophy, and his interests then focused on medical history; but the academic trajectory was too narrow for his exploding mind. He was often scathing about the narrow confines of university disciplines and in that sense, his mind was untrained because he refused to concentrate on only one discipline or specialism. He was ever hungry for new knowledge.

He chose Collectors Treasury as his career in 1974 when he started it with his mother and brother at 44 Stanley Avenue, Braamfontein Werf. The shop rapidly became an emporium of second-hand antiquarian non-fiction books, matched by a medley of collectables – porcelain, glass, jewellery, and artworks.

For Geoff, every serious book mattered seriously, and he was always ready to give freely of his knowledge to his customers. He loved sharing his erudition and wide reading on editions, authors, the byways of books. He could tell you about any author in any and every field. You had only to ask, and Geoff launched into a monologue on authors, their connections and relationships, politicians, heroes, and rogues. He was like a prize racehorse in the book stakes. I absorbed the many book lessons Geoff taught. He introduced me to antique maps.

The Klass collecting appetite outgrew the first 300m² shop, and moved to the city centre in about 1979. Then in 1984, it moved again after outgrowing the premises on Rissik Street.

In 1991, the Klass family bought its own art deco building at 244 Commissioner Street, which is part of the revitalised Maboneng district. The Klass family renamed the building CTP House, and pasted up striking yellow and black signs.

The inner city, with its persistent miner-camp feel, always appealed to Geoff, and he loved that there were eight floors to fill with books and treasures. The Collectors Treasury website proudly punted that it was the “largest used and rare book shop in Africa, and in the southern hemisphere, having 2 000 000 plus items on hand”.

In addition to books, the stock extended to antique maps, old engravings and prints, printed ephemera, periodicals, newspapers, and photographica. The Klass brothers also curated and dealt in records, with a stock of more than 500 000 vinyl and 78 rpm discs. Beyond vinyls, they also promoted their extensive range of small antiques and collectables, with strong emphasis on the decorative arts from 1870-1970, glassware, ceramics, and porcelain. They even had boxes and boxes of old Johannesburg postcards. This treasure trove was and still is the most eccentric, quirkiest bookshop in South Africa.

Tripadvisor describes Collectors Treasury as a book lovers’ paradise, saying, “Arriving at the Treasury one half expects that it’s an abandoned building. When you get inside though, it’s a readers paradise unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

Over time and the coming of the internet, a large part of the business went online but a visit to the shop was a magnet for any bibliophile. Every book mattered. Geoff’s approach was to value his books as they grew to the two million mark at international benchmarks. He saw books as the storehouses of civilisations that transcended national boundaries. He believed every book had a value and a desirable price somewhere in the world, and Geoff made that connection. It wasn’t his fault that South African book collectors were thin on the ground. However, a glance at the website shows evidence of books about Rudyard Kipling; Vladimir Tretchikoff; James Joyce; Ian Fleming; Lewis Carroll; Rhodesian mining; Grand Prix racing; martial arts; and Old Dundee – an eclectic, eccentric, and fascinating mix.

The books had a life of their own. They filled shelves, lined walls in piles, bulged from windows, and sat perilously on the steps of narrowed stairways. Books became crazy towers to a point of dangerous unstable heights. The antique Lalique glassware had me drooling over the quality of the finely chosen pieces.

This was the only bookshop where a visit became an adventure involving some risk taking. There was that avalanche of books likely to cascade down on your head as you tried to winkle out an enticing treasure sixth from the bottom of a pile. Or you had to avoid falling down the book-heavy staircases to the basement.

Geoff shook his head ruefully when a novice customer enthused, “Have your read every book in your shop?” but his only possible answer to that question was, “No, but I do know what each book is about!” Geoff could always pinpoint a specific request remarkably quickly and then explain the differences between the first and the second edition, and ask if you have read another title by the same author.

The coming of the internet changed the Collectors Treasury business model, and more and more books were sold online with the customer base becoming international. Book parcels were couriered around the world, but at the same time, international visitors became more frequent as Collectors Treasury became a magnet for bibliophiles passing through Johannesburg.

Geoff was the founding member and first chairperson of the South African Bookdealers Association, the official body for out-of-print book dealers in Southern Africa. Geoff’s vision was to improve standards of professional service to customers and allow members to speak with one voice on matters of common concern.

My one regret was that Geoff never published his memoirs, nor did he capture all that knowledge set in his prodigious brain on paper. I only hope that something can be found that he wrote about his city, his books, and his life.

Geoff is survived by his brother, Jonathan, and sister-in-law, Jenny, niece and nephew, Mathew and Rebecca, and by his beloved partner, Gundi Weinick. Weinick has her own bookshop nestled in the new 44 Stanley complex. We wish Jonathan and Jenny every success in continuing the Collectors Treasury bookshop. Continuity in the book of life will be the most important memorial for Geoff.

• Kathy Munro is a bibliophile/book collector, heritage researcher, and chair of the Heritage Association of South Africa.