فِي مَدِينَةِ عِيسَى فِي الْبَحْرَيْنِ مَكْتَبَةٌ لِلْكُتُبِ الْقَدِيمَةِ، اسْمُهَا «مَكْتَبَةُ صَلَاحٍ». عَلَى رَفٍّ فِيهَا كِتَابٌ مِنْ سَنَةِ ١٩٠٢. وَالْكِتَابُ لَيْسَ خَلْفَ زُجَاجٍ، فَالزُّوَّارُ يَسْتَطِيعُونَ أَنْ يَفْتَحُوهُ. فَتَحَ صَلَاحُ حُسَيْنٍ الْمَكْتَبَةَ فِي سَنَةِ ١٩٩٦. فِي الْبِدَايَةِ، كَانَتْ طَاوِلَةً صَغِيرَةً فِي سُوقٍ لِلْأَشْيَاءِ الْمُسْتَعْمَلَةِ. وَالْيَوْمَ فِيهَا آلَافُ الْكُتُبِ الْمُسْتَعْمَلَةِ، وَأَسْعَارُهَا قَلِيلَةٌ. وَبَعْضُهَا كُتُبٌ نَادِرَةٌ، لَا تَجِدُهَا فِي الْمَحَلَّاتِ الْيَوْمَ. يَقُولُ صَلَاحٌ: فِي الْبِدَايَةِ، كُنْتُ لَا أَعْرِفُ كَيْفَ أَبِيعُ الْكُتُبَ. لَكِنَّ النَّاسَ رَجَعُوا مَرَّةً بَعْدَ مَرَّةٍ. هَذَا الْمَكَانُ لَيْسَ لِلْبَيْعِ فَقَطْ، هُوَ لِلْمُشَارَكَةِ. فِي بَعْضِ الْكُتُبِ كَلِمَاتٌ بِخَطِّ قُرَّاءٍ قَبْلَكَ، وَصَفَحَاتٌ مَطْوِيَّةٌ. وَفِي الْمَكْتَبَةِ رَائِحَةُ الْوَرَقِ الْقَدِيمِ. يَأْتِي إِلَيْهَا طُلَّابٌ، وَآبَاءٌ وَأُمَّهَاتٌ، وَكُتَّابٌ، وَأَسَاتِذَةُ جَامِعَاتٍ. وَيُحِبُّ الزُّوَّارُ أَعْدَادًا قَدِيمَةً مِنْ مَجَلَّةِ «مَاجِدٍ»، فَهِيَ تُذَكِّرُهُمْ بِطُفُولَتِهِمْ. وَلَيْسَ فِي الْمَكْتَبَةِ كُمْبِيُوتَرٌ لِلْبَحْثِ، فَالزُّوَّارُ يَبْحَثُونَ بِأَنْفُسِهِمْ عَلَى الرُّفُوفِ.
In Isa Town in Bahrain there is a bookshop for old books, called “Salah’s Bookshop”. On a shelf in it there is a book from 1902. And the book is not behind glass, so visitors can open it. Salah Hussein opened the bookshop in 1996. At the beginning, it was a small table in a second-hand market. And today it has thousands of used books, and their prices are low. And some of them are rare books that you cannot find in shops today. Salah says: at the beginning, I did not know how to sell books. But people came back again and again. This place is not just for selling; it is for sharing. In some books there are words handwritten by readers before you, and folded pages. And the bookshop smells of old paper. Students, fathers and mothers, writers and university teachers come to it. And visitors love old issues of “Majid” magazine, because they remind them of their childhood. And there is no computer in the bookshop for searching, so visitors search the shelves themselves.