Ainslie Thin, bookseller at James Thin Ltd, dies aged 89

Ainslie Thin, former chair and joint m.d. at James Thin Ltd, has died aged 89, leaving behind his wife Eppie, his children Jackie, Hilary and Jamie, and grandchildren Holly, Ainslie, Oonagh, Anna, Steph and Sinead. 

Thin died on 24 February 2023. He was born and brought up in the Grange in Edinburgh and educated at the Edinburgh Academy and the Loretto School. He gained a degree in Chemistry from Edinburgh University, but deciding to change career path, he trained at Blackwell’s in Oxford and Bristol. After some months, he went on to join the main Thin Ltd bookshop at South Bridge, Edinburgh, in March 1958, where he worked beside his cousin, Jimmy Thin. 

Thin worked towards modernising the business, and Thin’s was the first bookshop chain to introduce computing into its operations. It was also one of the first to engage in steady expansion, first throughout Scotland and then south of the border. 

During his career in the book trade, Thin was a director and chairman of Book Tokens, president of the Booksellers Association of Great Britain and Ireland, and director and treasurer of the Edinburgh International Book Festival for 15 years. He was also a director of BookTrust in England and a member of the National Trust for Scotland Merchandising Committee. 

A service will be held at Mortonhall Crematorium, main chapel, on Monday 20th March at 2 p.m.