Catering to the intellectuals

Catering to the intellectuals
Select Book Shop has its own publishing banner - Select Books, to publish scholarly out-of-print books, which very few publishers would dare to do.


It is well-known that Select Book Shop is the place for antiquarian, rare and out-of-print books, but what is less known is that the bookshop also has its own publishing banner — Select Books, to publish scholarly out-of-print books, which very few publishers would dare to do.

Under the name of "Select Books", he is resurrecting the great works and bringing the newest material to masses. One of the first books to be published was Dr Ananda Coomaraswamy’s magnum opus “Time and Eternity.”

Recalls KKS Murthy of Select Book Shop, “During my Stay in USA, I was fortunate in getting acquainted with Dr Rama Coomaraswamy, son of Dr Ananda Coomaraswamy, a heart surgeon in Connecticut. I understood during my discussion that a renowned French Publishers had brought out Time and Eternity and presented it to Dr Ananda Coomaraswamy on his birthday.

Coomaraswamy having incorporated certain amendments, passed away shortly after the war. In response to my approach, Rama Coomaraswamy happily agreed with the idea that Select Books can bring out this version in Bangalore as a reprint in India.” Subsequently, the hardcover edition of the book was brought out as a joint publication by Select Books and IGNCA. The publication was released by the author’s son, Dr Rama Coomaraswamy in City.

In association with Select Books Shop’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, a publication titled ‘A Miscellany’ was released by the then Governor T N Chaturvedi at the Mythic Society. Essays by eminent scholars like Mathur Krishnamurti, Prof Luxmanan, Mander Malgoankar, Shashi Deshpande and Ramachandra Guha feature in this book.

Select Books in collaboration with World Wisdom Books of USA, published Indian editions of the works of Frithjof Shuon - Treasures of Buddhism, Understanding Islam, Christianity/Islam and Language of the Self. They also have to their name the reprint of G A Natesan’s Srimad Bhagavatam. edited by Late Prof S K Ramachandra Rao and Kanna Kanike by art critic, KSS Murthy and Srinivasa Ram Aiyer’s The Natural Limit of Inquiry: Reclaiming the Dharma among others.