The assets of the former Livraria Simões "reinforced" the shelves of various public entities in the region, including the municipal libraries of Faro and Olhão and the University of Algarve, but there are still around 600 books that anyone can pick up from the old bookshop in Faro, on Saturday, between 10:00 am and 12:30 pm.
APOS – Association for the Valorization of Cultural and Environmental Heritage of Olhão is helping the owner of the space where the bookstore operated, before it went bankrupt in 2015, in an attempt to give a home to the hundreds of thousands of books that still remain in the store, after a first selection made by different regional entities.
Carlos Simões, who maintains his activity as a bookstore, before the store closed, he had already moved to a warehouse in another area of the city of Faro and also got many books.
At first, "an exhaustive survey and cataloging of what existed" was carried out, a work carried out by technicians from the Municipal Library of Faro, after the Farense Chamber showed interest in this estate and obtained the owner's authorization to withdraw what it wanted.
"After the eviction action, we got in touch with the owner of the space and made ourselves available to analyze the estate and remove what was of interest," he told the Sul Informação Paulo Santos, vice president and councilor for Culture at the Chamber of Faro.
The store owner accepted and a team from the library “spent a lot of time, more than a month, analyzing and inventorying everything that was important and with historical and literary value”. Having done this basic work, the Chamber of Faro “appealed to the different entities that might be interested to come get books and documents”, which happened.
«There were many entities that went there and the University of Algarve Library, for example, kept many books. But there were many other entities, such as the Library of Faro and the Municipal Museum, in addition to services from the Chamber of Faro, such as sports or law, which also took the opportunity to keep some of the documentation», according to Paulo Santos.
As illustrated by Vítor Matias, president of APOS, in statements to the Sul Informação, «the most important books will have already been taken», which does not prevent «there are books that may interest people», considering the amount of publications that are still in the store.
“We are supporting the store owner so that this estate does not get lost. Any day, you take what is there and send it for recycling. In this way, we give an opportunity to whoever wants to keep some of the books», illustrated Vítor Matias.
And there's a little bit of everything, from 70's school notebooks, to 50's novels, among many others. This is because the bookstore Simões bought many of the books by weight, in addition to receiving many offers. «I don't think he threw any book away», believes Vítor Matias.
The president of APOS admits to opening the store again, on a later occasion, "if justified" and depending on the adhesion to the February 4 initiative.
For now, whoever goes on Saturday morning to the former Livraria Simões, at nº 86 of Rua do Alportel, in Faro, you'll be able to explore this vast collection and, who knows, discover a book you've been looking for for a long time but couldn't find it, or find yourself with a memory, which nowadays rests on one of the shelves of the now inactive store.
But APOS advises you to bring a flashlight, because the space has no electricity and there are still aisles and aisles of shelves to explore.
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