“This book is like a visit to the very best bookshop, in the company of the very best guide. Tony Eyre shares his lifelong passion for books, reading them, collecting them, telling the stories of their writers and the second-hand book shops and book sellers who keep those books in circulation. The result is a delight: a memoir that is personable, digressive, funny and profoundly moving.”

— Fiona Farrell

“There are few true believers so agreeable to be cornered by as life-long book collectors. I love the sense of sharing that so drives Tony Eyre ’s passion for the book he is after, the right edition, the original jacket, the set he longs to complete. How good to be reminded of what books can be to anyone devoted to them, and the dedicated hunt to read them, handle them, in fact revere them, as part of our lives. This is the book to remind you of all that.”

— Vincent O’Sullivan

Tony Eyre, born in 1953, grew up in Auckland before moving to Dunedin in 1978. As a Chartered Accountant for over 50 years, he has had a particular interest in the creative sector, supporting arts practitioners and serving on the boards of various arts related organisations.

Tony is a strong advocate of Dunedin as a UNESCO City of Literature and has been active in promoting the Dunedin Writer’s Walk, the Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival and is currently Chair of the Dunedin Athenaeum Library.

As a writer, he has a special interest in creative non-fiction. He has written for magazines and has had numerous opinion pieces and feature articles published in the Otago Daily Times.

Tony is married to Yvonne Fogarty, and they have four adult children and seven grandchildren. The Book Collector is Tony’s first book.