“The Reign of Books” – this is how I literally translate Horst Unsold’s comment on Fetting u. Minx Antiquariat at Kreuzberg’s Bergmannstraße, a street full of bars, cafés and restaurants. The biggest reason why I love this second-hand bookstore is that prices are very reasonable and their collection not only interests me, it sparkles more interests in me. When I first discovered it in 2017, I had already had a strong interest in East Asian studies in the German language. I cannot tell who Mr. Wilhelm Fetting or Dr. Rainer Minx are, but one of them once gave me a printed-in-Romania Kin Ping Meh as a reward for my loyal visits.

What makes Fetting u. Minx special is that they still have a backup store just some steps away from the main shop. The first one is kept by two gentlemen, Mr. Fetting and Dr. Minx, and the latter is run by two ladies. Fetting u. Minx has been something very nourishing for me personally, getting to know some parts of the German culture better. I have been slowly collecting from them a large bilingual world poetry anthology series published in the ’70s by the East Berlin’s publishing house “Volk und Wissen” (literally People and Knowledge), among many other precious possessions of mine obtained from there. English and French books have their own sections. A beautiful collection of Asian art books is also a highlight, and some of them are in English.