THE MARCO POLO OF BOOKS

In a pickup truck or car she wanders southern Africa, the lands south of the Zambezi River – Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Angola, Lesotho, Swaziland and, of course, South Africa. She buys books at each stop with cash or through barter, books that are indigenous to the land she’s in, and then sells them to customers throughout the world. Her clientele includes collectors and governments and universities. “I have standing orders from a number of American universities,” she said. “Yale says it will buy everything it can get that is published in Mozambique and Namibia.” – New York Times