Death of renowned bookseller Fred Hanna

BOOKSELLER FRED Hanna died yesterday at St Vincents hospital in Dublin, following a short illness.

The Fred Hanna name was synonymous with bookselling in Dublin for most of the last century.

The family’s flagship store on Nassau Street was one of the oldest and best-known booksellers in the city.

The 27 Nassau Street address, near the corner of Dawson Street, was a haven for book lovers and writers in its day, frequented by both James Joyce and Brendan Behan.

Mr Hanna’s grandfather, also named Frederick, began the Hanna tradition, when he took over the shop from his employer, William Magee, at the turn of the century.

For a number of years it was run as a partnership venture, and was known as Hanna Neale, but since 1910 it became Fred Hanna’s.

Mr Hanna took over the operation of the store from his father Walter in the 1970s.

The three-storey shop boasted five departments, selling everything from new volumes to second-hand paperbacks, as well as academic and antiquarian books.

However, it was eventually taken over by the Eason chain in 1999, closing a chapter on a business that had dated back to the 1840s. The family still operates the Campus Bookshop at University College Dublin in Belfield.

Mr Hanna is survived by his wife, Val, and his four children.

There will be a funeral service on Tuesday next at Tullow Parish Church, Brighton Road, Carrickmines, Co Dublin.