Eric M. Bonner, Africana bookseller

Eric M. Borgzinner was born in London in 1903. His father, a German Jew, had emigrated to England as a young man. During the First World War the family changed its name to Bonner. Eric trained reluctantly for a career in banking. He served in the British Army during the Second World War ending his contribution, using his German language skills, in an Allied denazification project. Following the war he pursued his true passion, bookselling. He probably started as a “runner,” purchasing single items from one bookseller and making a few shillings or a pound by reselling it to a bookseller who specialized in the item.Between 1949 and 1970 Bonner, an antiquarian bookseller, produced at least 39 catalogues, about two per year, almost all of which are in the British Library. He specialized in Africa, Australia, New Zealand, voyages, exploration, with some attention to the East and West Indies.