Fascination Books was one of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
's largest book chains with branches throughout South Africa. After 13 years of considerable growth, owner and founder Johan Marais applied for liquidation in October 2008. The company was the largest independent book chain in the South Africa. It stocked a wide range of books, focussing on religious books, while also stocking a great variety of books in
Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...
.
Johan Marais
Beside Johan Marais being the founder and sole owner of the Fascination Books group, he is also the managing director of the company. He specialises in the field of
herpetology
Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and rept ...
and is currently completing a master's degree at the
University of Witwatersrand under professor Graham Alexander, with whom he collaborated on the book ''Guide to
Reptiles
Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the Class (biology), class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsid, sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, Squamata, squamates (lizar ...
of Southern Africa''. Prior to this he published ''Snake versus Man'' (1994), ''Conservation and Utilization of the
Nile Crocodile
The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern ...
'' (1991; with professor Gerrie Smith), ''Snakes of the World'' (1984), ''Snakes and Snakebites'' (2001) ''What's that Snake?'', a short identification guide on Southern African snakes, as well as ''Snakes of Southern Africa'' (2004; originally published in 1992, then totally rewritten), a complete guide, which was followed by the aforementioned reptile guide. All these books are published by Struik Books South Africa.
Online Store
In April 2008, the company also introduced an online store on its website, with a range of up to 3 million books. According to Marais, the online store was formed as a separate company and will not be part of the liquidation.
Liquidation
On Wednesday 22 October 2008 Fascination Books applied for liquidation. The liquidation came as a surprise to the more than 300 people employed by the company. "We knew nothing about this beforehand. On Wednesday afternoon
2 October 2008the liquidators walked in and we had to hand over the keys and leave the shop immediately,"
said a shocked employee to the press.
References
{{Reflist
External links
* https://web.archive.org/web/20080109192446/https://www.fascinationbooks.co.za/- Official company website.
* http://www.johanmarais.co.za/ - Marais' website.
* https://web.archive.org/web/20110711003053/http://www.fin24.com/Companies/Book-chain-closes-doors-20081028 - Information on liquidation
Bookstores of South Africa