Nick Cave donates 2,000 books to charity shop

Deputy manager Maggie Rea says Nick Cave's publicist contacted the Oxfam bookshop to ask if it wanted the donation

Nick Cave fans took some of his favourite books into their arms after the singer donated 2,000 from his personal collection to a charity shop in Hove.

Cave spent a number of years living in Brighton with his family, before moving to Los Angeles following the death of son Arthur in 2015.

Maggie Rea, Oxfam bookshop's deputy manager, said the reaction to the donation had been "absolutely mad".

Some of the performers fans have travelled from other towns and cities to grab his old paperbacks, some of which contain annotations by Cave.

Maggie said: "We've been rushed off our feet, the actual Nick Cave phenomenon has landed in Hove.

"There have been slight annotations to books - we've found plane tickets, post cards and all sorts - I think being able to have something like that that Nick owned is also very special to people."

Ms Rea says the donation, which will take "some time" to put on the shelves due to its size, has been "absolutely fabulous" and tripled the shop's takings.

One woman spent £200 in a single day, all on Cave's collection, she said.

Sisters Seeta and Lizzie Seetharaman travelled from Kent and London to buy some of Cave's books.

Sisters Seeta and Lizzie Seetharaman are among those to buy books from the donated collection

Lizzie, who bought The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg, says it is "very moving" for her book to have an inscription.

"I'm a massive Nick Cave fan - I've been to see him several times," she said.

Seeta, who bought The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero by Larry Sloman and William Kalush, said: "You're always in second-hand book stores wondering who owned the book before you.

"This time we know, and it's someone very cool."

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