Darwin Room marks first anniversary winning major orders from China

Bookbarn International’s Darwin Room has secured its biggest order yet – all the way from Shandong Province in China.

The order – for a variety of antiquarian titles including Shakespeare and Dickens collections as well as a selection of early bibles – marks a successful first anniversary for the Darwin Room and for Market Development Director Khushi Fan.

Khushi explained: “I send images of our titles in the Darwin Room directly to our client Andy Cui from Qingdao in Shandong Province via WeChat. He then chooses the titles he requires. The latest shipment is our biggest yet and four times bigger than previous orders.

“Shandong Province was the home of Confucius and remains a centre of learning. It is great to think these classics of English Literature will be treasured in China.”

Based at Hallatrow near Bristol, Bookbarn International has recorded another first -   shipping children’s books to China.

“We are sending new children's books to another dealer, Ms. Zhuozhuo LI from the city of Xi'an in Shaanxi province, home of the Terra Cotta warriors and a city with the highest concentration of universities in China.

 Khushi said: “This is the first time we have shipped children’s books out to reading centres in Xi’an. People there are very well educated.”

To round off the China success story, Bookbarn has donated a set of books on Sanskrit Buddhism to the library at Beijing’s Longquan Monastery.

Co-owner William Pryor said the Darwin Room was proving a great success at home and overseas.

He said: “There has always been considerable demand for our historic or antiquarian titles, but the opening of the Darwin Room enabled us to fully coordinate our efforts and better present the many literary treasures we come across.

“We appointed Khushi with the direct intention of raising Bookbarn’s profile not only amongst the Chinese community in Bristol and Bath but with collectors in the vast Far Eastern and Chinese markets she is familiar with.

“We were thrilled to hear of the size of the order from China which has more than repaid our investment in creating the Darwin Room.”

Founded in 2000, Hallatrow-based Bookbarn ships orders from the warehouse in rural Somerset to customers all over the world.