His Majesty King Abdullah II paid his respects to Hisham al-Maaytah, owner of Al-Jahith's Treasury, one of the oldest bookshops in Amman, who passed away on Saturday following a car accident in downtown Amman.

The Jordanian monarch gave his condolences to Hisham’s family at Diwan Abna'a Al Karak Association, where the post-funeral reception was being held.

Hisham passed away just weeks after his iconic bookshop went up in flames.

At least 10,000 old books and manuscripts were lost in the fire, some of which were rare and dating back to the 13th century.

The Treasury is owned by three brothers of the al-Maaytah family of Karak, and has been in their family for four successive generations.

It remains unique among Amman’s bookshops: it sells books at affordable prices to bookworms on a low-income, it accepts the exchange of old books for new ones, and it also offers the rent-out service, where readers can borrow a book for one month for just one Jordanian Dinar.