About Us

Welcome to Asia Bookroom

Asia Bookroom is located in Canberra, Australia’s capital city. Alongside our welcoming retail shop, we run a thriving mail-order business, carefully packing and sending books and other related materials to readers, collectors, and institutions around the world.

Asia Bookroom stands on the traditional lands of the Ngunnawal people. We acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of the Canberra region.

At the heart of our philosophy is a commitment to literacy and the sharing of knowledge. Together with our customers, we regularly raise funds for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Each year, through our Christmas Tree initiative, we also support Classrooms in the Clouds in Nepal.

What We Offer

  • Specialist focus on Asia – With more than 40 years’ experience, we provide expertise in all aspects of Asia. Our knowledge and networks help readers, collectors, and institutions find the books they need.
  • Tailored book lists – We issue regular short E-Lists of antiquarian, out-of-print, and occasionally new books, matched to your interests. You can update your preferences at any time.
  • Worldwide delivery – Our books travel safely across the globe, securely packed for their journey from Canberra to you.

Subscribe to our E-Lists here.

Our Story

Asia Bookroom began with Barbara Burdon, who in the late 1960s started selling antique prints and maps from her home in Canberra. A chance auction purchase drew her into bookselling, and by the 1970s books had become the heart of the business.

In 1982, with her daughter Sally returning from overseas, the business expanded under the name The Old Bookroom—later Asia Bookroom. From those early days, an emphasis on books about Asia set the direction that continues today. Over time the shop has moved to larger spaces, and it now occupies premises nine times the size of the original.

Asia Bookroom Today  

 

Now led by Barbara’s daughter Sally Burdon, Asia Bookroom has grown into a leading specialist bookseller on Asia. Sally has served as President of both the Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers (ANZAAB) and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB), reflecting her deep commitment to the trade. Sally was honoured to receive the ILAB Medal for her services to ILAB in 2024. 

Her passion lies not only in selling books but also in fostering curiosity and community. Through events and Asia Bookroom's Asia-focused book group, Asia Bookroom shares knowledge and celebrates cultural diversity.

Sally believes:

“We are so lucky to live in this part of the world, with the energy and special feel that our culturally diverse country has. One of the best ways to nurture this is by promoting knowledge about our region and the people who live in it. As history shows us, time and time again, freedom and diversity are very special fragile things. We need to work at it and guard it carefully. One of the ways of doing this is to make sure that old materials such as political and social movement ephemera is made available to institutions and collectors. By preserving and valuing original source material, it is very much more difficult to re-write history."

Visit or Connect

Whether you step into our Canberra shop or browse online, we look forward to helping you discover books that inspire, inform, and connect you with Asia and the wider world both now and in the past.  

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