A Town’s Tale of Two Bookshops: The Book Cottage (2/2)

The Walker Bay town of Hermanus – famous for its whale watching, from July to September – is home to two of the Overberg’s best little bookshops, which are right next door to each other.

The Book Cottage
Harbour Road
Hermanus | Map

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Specialty: New books
Tel: +27 (0) 28 313 0834
bookcott@hermanus.co.za

SA Logue recommends a look inside? Definitely

Further Insight & Opinion

The Book Cottage is, if anything, cuter on the inside than it is on the outside. It manages the neat trick of being stuffed with books – new books, of all kinds, especially new South African novels and nonfiction – while retaining the sparkle, charm and clean lines of, say, the museum shop at MOMA.

Art books, in fact, take special pride of place in this mini-emporium, alongside the South African offerings – a fascinating new Phaidon title on drawing was on display during a recent visit. As do children’s books: a bright corner of the cottage is specially reserved for those twelve and under, and there are usually a few kids cosily inhabiting it.

Best of all, though, The Book Cottage counts as one of the places in SA where you can still find that big, bright, beautiful compendium on Indian cookery, The Masala Cookbook. A signed copy, no less, if you hurry down!

For the tourists, the shop has the most elegant whale postcards on the South Coast. Please do pop in – you’ll certainly find something that’s up your alley.

• Visit The Book Cottage’s neighbor: Hemingway’s.