Nick Cave fans have descended on Hove this week after the legendary singer-songwriter donated 2,000 books from his personal collection to the local Oxfam bookshop.
Cave, who lived in Brighton for many years before relocating to Los Angeles following the tragic death of his son Arthur in 2015, is known for his literary passions as much as his music. The donation has sparked a frenzy among fans and collectors eager to own a piece of the singer’s personal library.
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Maggie Rea, deputy manager of the Oxfam bookshop in Hove, told the BBC the response has been “absolutely mad.”
She said “We’ve been rushed off our feet – the actual Nick Cave phenomenon has landed in Hove,” she said. “There have been slight annotations to books – we’ve found plane tickets, postcards, and all sorts. I think being able to have something like that that Nick owned is also very special to people.”
According to Rea, the enormous donation will take some time to fully process and put on the shelves due to its sheer size. But the impact is already being felt, the shop has reportedly tripled its usual takings, with one woman spending £200 in a single day, all on books from Cave’s collection.
Among the fans making the pilgrimage were sisters Seeta and Lizzie Seetharaman, who travelled from Kent and London to snap up some of the coveted titles.
Seeta chose The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero by Larry Sloman and William Kalush, while Lizzie picked up The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg.
Lizzie told the BBC: “I’m a massive Nick Cave fan – I’ve been to see him several times. It’s very moving to have a book with his inscription.”
Seeta added: “You’re always in second-hand book stores wondering who owned the book before you. This time we know – and it’s someone very cool.”
