Tucked away in narrow roads and alleys across the island are small, quaint shops that clearly have not changed in at least 50 years and where dying traditions are nursed.

The wrinkled owner, who still plies the trade he learnt from his father and known among villagers for his consistent and reliable work, usually sits inside, a scene that can well be extracted from a time capsule. Be it a cobbler’s work station, an old coffee shop or an ironmonger displaying extinct tools, the setting is generally endearing and fascinating to the younger generation who can thus get a glimpse of Malta past.

Eddie Aquilina decided such scenes deserved to be saved for posterity and is working on a book that will immortalise them.

“My work constantly takes me all over Malta and I could notice that certain traditions are starting to disappear. I thought to myself: I want to document them to last forever,” said Mr Aquilina, known for the 360 Degrees book collection that contains spectacular views of Malta and Gozo.

Entitled Traditions In Peril, the book, a work in progress by Miranda Publishers, will include a series of photos by Italian photographer Enrico Formica of Malta’s age-old trades and existing shops accompanied by the stories behind the photos. It should be published towards the end of next year.

Mr Aquilina started working on the book a few months ago and has already photographed a few shops and interesting characters.

“What always amazes me is that they do not realise how special they are. Whenever I tell them I want to photograph them for a book they cannot understand why,” he smiled. He once asked an ironmonger in Rabat to feature in his book and the owner could not understand why he wanted to photograph “all this rubbish”.

Some insisted on clearing up the shop or workstation or wearing their “good clothes” before being photographed but Mr Aquilina insisted he wanted to capture them in their everyday state.

One person who stuck out in Mr Aquilina’s mind was a petroleum seller, a man in his 70s who still goes around Malta in his colourful small truck with the pricelist painted on the side.

Anyone who knows of interesting traditions that deserve to be documented can call Mr Aquilina on 9947 3164.