Book-Cycle began in South East England. The founder was “bin raiding” in Canterbury. This is recycling at its best: “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure!” His days foraging yielded many gems for friends and family alike. What he noticed was the sheer amount of good books that were being thrown away.

With these unwanted books he started to establish free libraries in empty buildings around Canterbury. Unfortunately these sites were usually evicted before the public had much chance to getto the books. At around that time, some of his friends returned from Africa, full of stories about the lack of facilities in schools, especially the lack of reading material, in any language.

It seemed unfair that the people of one country were discarding their books while the people of another so desperately needed them. The founder decided that he should find a way to sort the surplus books and send the relevant ones to Africa. He moved to the West Country to continue his work in conservation and botany (it was also much closer to most English music festivals). While working in a plant nursery he discovered that not only was a lot of Britain’s second-hand literature going to waste but that many young saplings were being shredded due to a lack of space in nurseries.

What was needed was an outlet for the books and the trees, and somewhere anyone could afford the product, whatever their means. Thus the stage was set for Book-Cycle.

First he had to find cheap premises for the books to be stored. This was initially an old milking parlour near Wellington in Somerset. He gathered 150,000 books in about five months, from Wellington and Taunton. During this time he contacted various charities and schools in Africa to see if there was still such a need for books and more importantly, which books they required. Still not sure of how he might send the books, he travelled to Exeter in the hope that he would find somewhere to set up a free bookstall. This would be based on donations, half of which he would use for the postage of the books, the other he would save for a small piece of land on which to propagate trees.

Within a week he had found some storage in Exeter boatyard, in another week he had not only found two places he could run a stall, but was offered a small shop in a Tudor building on West Street, at very reasonable rent. This was to become the first Book-Cycle, and the hub from which all other activities were to spring.

The first job was for him and a few friends to build the shelves and add the books.

On May 1^st 2007, books began ebbing and flowing from the shop. Volunteers enthusiastically attached themselves to the project, and the “free bookshop” has slowly become part of Exeter’s cultural landscape and community. As well as housing books and trees, the shop provides a venue for the screening of independent films, a “Bring Your Own Art” exhibition, on the first weekend of every month and free internet access and workshops.

On May 1^st 2008 the second Book-Cycle opened, in the Open Market in Brighton. We are still in the process of building this new and exciting outlet but there are already many hundreds of amazing books on offer.