Meet UAE Resident Who Sold Wife's Gold To Buy Old Books, Preserve Arab History

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) This Egyptian collector said he sold his wife's gold twice to buy books and publications, adding to an archive that documents the histories of the UAE and other Arab countries.

“I am not just selling magazines and books. I collect, archive and document the history of the Arab world,” Sadeq said.

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Participating for the fourth year at the Sharjah International Book Fair, Sadeq, from the Arab Heritage Archive Foundation, described his work as a responsibility passed down through generations. He inherited the profession from his family and is now teaching his son to carry it forward.

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For the UAE resident, preserving a publication means keeping the evidence of how people lived, what they read and how their countries changed.

His collection brings together coverage from across the Arab world and beyond, including publications from Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Sudan, Algeria, Tunisia, France and Britain. Among them are accounts of the Emirates before the formation of the UAE, alongside material tracing the country's development after the Union.

The value, he said, lies in following a country's story through different sources, languages and perspectives.

“The archive speaks,” he said.

That approach shapes his latest additions, including publications documenting the role of women in the Emirates over roughly seven decades. Together, they trace the foundations of a transformation whose results younger generations see today.

Sadeq explained that Emirati women's presence in workplaces, leadership, and ministerial positions has a history. Keeping that history lets readers discover the people and efforts that made it possible.

Yet some of the strongest connections to the past begin with something much smaller: a children's magazine.

Old copies of Majid, Sindbad, Mickey and Samir are among the publications visitors seek most, he said. Parents arrive with their children and recognize the characters they once followed themselves.

In those encounters, a magazine becomes a link between generations. A parent's childhood is suddenly something a child can hold, read and ask about.

Sadeq also values the Arabic language in older children's publications, particularly stories printed with vowel markings to support young readers. To him, keeping these editions preserves part of the way children learned to read and encountered their culture.

That sense of responsibility starts within his own family. As he teaches his son the trade, he stresses the need to understand the material, recognize what is missing from a collection and listen to the people who come looking for it.

He continues to seek new items each year, explaining that a familiar-looking stand does not mean the archive has stood still.

Originality matters, too. Sadeq distinguishes original publications from reproductions, placing particular value on the surviving copies that readers encountered decades ago.

Behind the buying, collecting and selling is a purpose he describes as larger than a livelihood.

“Our profession is a mission before it is a trade,” he said.

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