51st CIBF: Hemdan’s 'The Personality of Egypt' sells over 2k copies in 4 days

CAIRO - 27 January 2020: Gamal Hemdan’s encyclopedia "The Personality of Egypt" is considered the most popular in the 51st Cairo International Book Fair, especially after the General Egyptian Book Organization issued a special edition of four parts at a reduced price of L.E 140.

Hemdan is the main personality of the book fair's 51st edition.

The General Egyptian Book Organization (GEBO) recently issued copy of the encyclopedia achieved high sales, reaching more than 2000 copies. Sales officials at the GEBO’s booth at the Book Fair stated that copies of the encyclopedia are sold out every day within only half an hour or so.

The keenness of many readers, especially the youth, to acquire the encyclopedia was apparent in the exhibition this year, despite the availability of the encyclopedia in Dar Al-Hilal, and the difficulty of the book’s content, which many think is specialized for experts.

Mohammed, a young man who purchased the book at the book fair, stated that he had never read anything written by Hemdan, but he had always heard about him and his mysterious death. He decided to purchase the encyclopedia, especially after Hemdan was named the main personality of the 51st edition of the book fair. The young man further stated that he got the encyclopedia issued by GEBO at a very affordable price compared to its price at Dar Al-Hilal which is L.E 700.

Another visitor of the 51st CIBF, Imad al-Adly, stated that the high turnout of Egyptian youth trying to buy the encyclopedia undermines the stereotype that youth tend to lean towards basic books, stressing that if more specialized and complex books are offered at an affordable price, youth will surely be attracted to them.

Adly criticized the governmental entities that print only limited numbers of such encyclopedias, despite knowing that they would run out in a few days, and perhaps within hours, referring that this very high turnout proves that youth are aware of the importance of such content.