A unique secondhand and collectors’ bookshop in Tenby has been ‘talk of the town’ after a fabulous photoshoot by local photographer Gareth Davies.
“What an absolute delight, pleasure and privilege to spend time talking interesting things and photographing Albie Smosarski at his incredibly wonderful super packed bookshop,” he said.
Cofion Books, on the corner of Bridge Street and Quay Hill, has been described by visitors as ‘magical’, ‘a Tenby landmark’ and ‘like it’s out of a Harry Potter film’, while proprietor Albie is regarded as ‘a lovely gentleman’ and a ‘legend in his own lifetime’.
Gareth added: “If you are in our town at any time, please go and see Albie and buy a second hand book. Honestly, your life could be enriched by it, and yes, he jolly well knows where all the individual titles are amongst his beautiful chaos. Albie told me that on one occasion a guy entered his shop and told him that he had looked all over Manhattan NYC for particular books on Dylan Thomas; he found one and bought it - when he left Albie’s he had bought three books on his list on Dylan Thomas.“
Cofion has a large selection of old postcards, too. In the days of the monthly Tenby Times, Albie supplied a column, titled Cofion Corner, featuring themed collections of past postcards of Tenby, accompanied by interesting historical notes.
The photographer described Albie as “a true star of old Tenby town,” adding, “everyone seems to know him. It was absolutely freezing sitting outside Cofion Books in his foldaway chairs just talking and being lost in the moment.“
That moment was captured on Gareth’s Nikon by Haydn Wickland, who just happened to be passing by. Albie commented: “It was a joy sharing the afternoon with you Gareth and thanks to Haydn for taking our photograph!”
He also told us how Cofion got started:
“Forty years ago, I was wandering around Tenby when I saw the present shop which was well known as Blue Peter and for a little while as the The Albatross Bookshop. It was totally empty! That was the weekend that changed my life. I was lucky enough to obtain a lease and the rest is history.
“I used to travel all over England stalling out as a postcard dealer at big Postcard Fairs but now I had a base for my collection. I also cleared my attic which contained books amassed over many years and that was the start of Cofion Books and Postcards!
“I always loved books, postcards and history and have tried to incorporate this liking into what I sell.”
Albie was brought up in the Afan Valley in a mining community above Port Talbot and always came to Tenby during the Miners’ Fortnight on coaches. It made a change from Aberavon beach which always had pieces of coal in the sand!
Shop opening hours tend to be haphazard so it’s best to contact Albie on [email protected] to check. “If it’s pouring with rain I won’t be open for books don’t like wet or damp conditions,” he adds. “I tend to open from 2pm-5.30pm but longer on sunny days.”
Here is a poem Nicky Lloyd wrote for Albie in February 2023:
COFION
- Words taller than tales,
- ramshackle reads, sunk
- into the souls of sailors,
- bygones buoy balusters
- defiant of design, time
- hangs salty, sunny to the
- razor lit harbour descent,
- in moments, in idles, in
- stowaway secrets. Bend
- my ear to the yore and, let
- me hear the yawns of the
- sleeping, woken, from
- capture, by the captivated,
- whisper the broken bones,
- the battle scarred titles,
- vying for the eyeing curios,
- a breath upon my cheek,
- musty in the lungs of
- latent love letters and
- latterly lament. Wide-eyed
- the boy, beside the sea, so
- the sleeping mines can just
- be, cherished a book loaned
- from a tin, beginning to end
- and back again, bawdy the
- bathers and postcard prudes,
- perhaps once there was a
- floor, perhaps once there was
- a wall, where Cofion spills her
- spoils and sentences and chases
- her chapters through the cheating
- of being, to a sometimes never,
- always whenever, sands of time.
© Nicky Lloyd. Reprinted with permission.