Cup of black coffee on a grained wooden table.

Coffee in a cup on a table with a potted plant in front of bookcases of fiction alphabetised by author surname from Fyodor Dosto(y)evsky through Günther Grass.

View of the swimming pool surrounded by trees abd shrubs budding new growth.

The trees at the bottom of the garden on the northern side of the Late Imperial Library on a spring morning.

Sneaking in the last coffee for the day, mid-morning in #FictionRoomA of the #LateImperialLibrary in #NorthJozi, early spring.

🫅🏾📚☕️🗝🚪🌱🍃🌳🌲🪺🌸🌍☀️

Bowls of fruit, a lamp, and a beadwork protea on a table covered with an orange cloth in front of bookcases of fiction arranged alphabetically by author surname from Louise Erdrich on the left through James Hanley on the right.

Calendario Romano hanging off the side of a bookcase (open to June, showing a dark-haired young man in priest's garb), with shelves stretching along the wall holding fiction alphabetised by author surname from Margaret Atwood through Peter Carey.

Reverse view from that in the previous image showing bookcases of fiction alphabetised by author surname from Soazig Aaron through Anthony Burgess.

Bookcases of fiction along a wall, the volumes alphabetised by author surname from Imraan Coovadia through Rumer Godden.

Winter's night in #FictionRoomA of the #LateImperialLibrary in #NorthJozi.

🫅🏾📚🤓📖📝🗝🚪❄️🌍🌒

View of a dining table covered with a black and white cloth; on the table are a laptop, various books, a heart patterned tea pot, an off-white teacup and saucer, and various toybrick structures. Behind and on both sides of the table are bookcases of fiction, and chaies are tucked in under it.

Saturday midmorning tea in #FictionRoomA of the #LateImperialLibrary in an overcast #NorthJozi.

🫅🏾📚🤓📖📝☕️💻🗝🚪🌍☁️

Polka dot patterned mug of espresso on a table covered with a white cloth in front of bookcases of fiction alphabetised by author surname.

Morning coffee in #FictionRoomA of the #LateImperialLibrary in #NorthJozi; pace Billy Idol:

It's a nice day to start again
It's a nice day for [an abdication]
It's a nice day to start again, ow!

#NoblesseOblige #RibbonCutting #ShipLaunching

🫅🏾📚🤓📖📝☕️🗝🚪🌳🌍🌤

Bookcases with volumes of fiction from Joseph Connolly through Don DeLillo organised by author surname, and on the right stacks of books on shelves. A ladder is stood up in front of the bookshelves in the centre of the frame.

Shelves on various bookcases not organised yet; volumes are mostly by authors with surnames starting with L and M.

Reverse view of the double-sided green bookcase in the centre kf rhe room, with other bookcases along three sides along the walls; the shelves in the foreground contain volumes alphabetised by author surname from Iris Murdoch through V.S. Naipaul and Cees Nooteboom to Joyce Carol Oates.

A doublesided bookcase in the centre of a room in which there are bookcases on three sides; the bookcase in the foreground has volumes alphabetised by author surname from Timothy Mo through Toni Morrison to Alice Munro.

Midnight in the #LateImperialLibrary in rainy #NorthJozj: shelving got as far as Don DeLillo in #FictionRoomA, and as far back as Timothy Mo reverse shelving in #FictionRoomD.

🫅🏾📚🤓📖📝☕️🫖🗝🚪🌳🌍⛈️

📚💙
💙📚🖋

Photograph of three bookcases perpendicular to one another, showing volumes alphabetised by author surname from Jean Cocteau through J.M. Coetzee, Leonard Cohen, Colette, Michael Collins, Wilkie Collins, and Arthur Conan Doyle on the left, and on the right, from Jim Crace and Michael Cunningham to Rachel Cusk. Also on the shelf on the right : a red teapoy and a beige mug with a yellow handle and a blue interior.

Various volumes stacked on a parquet floor awaiting shelving.

Various volumes stacked on a table awaiting shelving.

View down into a garden and swimming pool, and a date palm.

Morning tea break, having reached Rachel Cusk in shelving #FictionRoomA of the #LateImperialLibrary in #NorthJozi.

Currently 31 ⁰C, may reach 33 ⁰C.

🫅🏾📚🤓📖🫖☕️🥵🌳🌴🌍🌤

📚💙
📚💙🖋

Some shelves of four bookcases, with volumes organised alphabetically by author surname from Italo Calvino on the ldft, through Albert Camus, Elias Canetti, Truman Capote, Peter Carey, Lewis Carroll, Angela Carter, Dan Carter, Raymond Carver, Baldesar Castiglione, Ruy Castro, Willa Cather, Margaret Cavendish, Céline, Michael Chabon, Raymond Chandler, Vikram Chandra, Eileen Chang, Bruce Chatwin, Amit Chaudry, John Cheever, Anton Chekhov, Syl Cheney-Coker, Chesterton, Shimmer Chinodya, Rafael Chirbes, and Kate Chopin. On the lowest shelf on the right are stacks of books not yet organised and to be shelved elsewhere with the rest of 'D'.

Time for the midday meal, pausing at Kate Chopin in #FictionRoomA of the #LateImperialLibrary in hottest #NorthJozi.

🫅🏾📚🤓📖🥗🗝🚪🌳🌍☀️

📚💙

Room of books stacked on the floor, the sofa, the table, and visibly along three sides on bookcases.

View of books stacked on the floor, table, sofa, and on bookcases along two walls.

View of four bookcases of fiction alphabetised by author surname from Margaret Atwood's "The Year of the Flood" to A.S. Byatt's "The Whistling Woman"; some books stacked on the floor can be seen in the foreground.

View of bookcases not yet organised.

Off to cut ribbons and fling flagons and jeroboams at seagoing vessels, happy to have proceeded as far as Byatt in #FictionRoomA, and back from Zwi to Shafak in #FictionRoomD of the #LateImperialLibrary in #NorthJozi heading to 30 ⁰C . . .

🫅🏾📚🤓📖☕️🗝🚪🌳🌻🌍☀️

Photograph of tea with ppt and cup, lemon slices and honey, on a table covered with a white cloth; there is a tablet and a laptop, as well as Liszt's book on Chopin on the table. Against the wall are boolcases of fiction yet to be properly shelved.

Fiction alphabetised by author surname and ordered chronologically within the oeuvre, on two shelves: Jane Austen through Paul Auster and Mariama Bâ to Beryl Bainbridge on the two shelves of one bookcase on the left, and Damien Barr through John Barth and Samuel Beckett to Brendan Behan on the two shelves of the neighbouring bookcase on the right.

Parts of two shelves on each of three neighbouring bookcases with fiction yet to be properly organised.

Blue sky over Johannesburg's northern suburbs an hour before sunset.

Afternoon tea reading Liszt on Chopin in the #LateImperialLibrary, having reached Samuel Beckett in #FictionRoomA in the sweet and sensual sorrow of shelving.

🫅🏾📚🤓📖📝🫖☕️🗝🚪🌍☀️

📚💙