Bibliophiles of Bangalore, unite

Bibliophiles of Bangalore, unite


Express Features First Published : 24 Sep 2009 09:46:40 AM IST
BANGALORE: Rare first-edition books from Select Book Shop’s stable await you THE warm smell of old books embraces you when you enter the atrium of the Alliance Francaise.
Hundreds of rare first edition books, periodicals and old paintings are arranged in no apparent methodical manner here. It is the annual sale of Select Book Shop, where old books, hard-bound, dog-eared, beautifully yellow with age, are going to find new homes, book-shelves and readers.
Murthy, the owner of the book shop, which was set up in Bangalore in 1945, sits in a corner looking over the books. He points at a book that was published in 1868 and asks, “Can you think of a price for such books?” Select Book Shop faithfuls know that the store’s biggest attraction has always been the fact that it is a treasure trove for old books.
The collection at the sale is so varied that you might end up buying books on subjects you never would have thought would interest you. However, this sale is strictly for people who don’t look for reasons to buy books. It could be an inscription by someone who had earlier owned the book, scrawled hastily in a corner, proclaiming an emotion so strong that it just had to change.
Or it could be a bookmark, used and forgotten.
Whatever is your pick, and even if you don’t end up picking a book, you will leave with a feeling of having read something.
The sale is on till September 26.


Express Features First Published : 24 Sep 2009 09:46:40 AM IST
BANGALORE: Rare first-edition books from Select Book Shop’s stable await you THE warm smell of old books embraces you when you enter the atrium of the Alliance Francaise.
Hundreds of rare first edition books, periodicals and old paintings are arranged in no apparent methodical manner here. It is the annual sale of Select Book Shop, where old books, hard-bound, dog-eared, beautifully yellow with age, are going to find new homes, book-shelves and readers.
Murthy, the owner of the book shop, which was set up in Bangalore in 1945, sits in a corner looking over the books. He points at a book that was published in 1868 and asks, “Can you think of a price for such books?” Select Book Shop faithfuls know that the store’s biggest attraction has always been the fact that it is a treasure trove for old books.
The collection at the sale is so varied that you might end up buying books on subjects you never would have thought would interest you. However, this sale is strictly for people who don’t look for reasons to buy books. It could be an inscription by someone who had earlier owned the book, scrawled hastily in a corner, proclaiming an emotion so strong that it just had to change.
Or it could be a bookmark, used and forgotten.
Whatever is your pick, and even if you don’t end up picking a book, you will leave with a feeling of having read something.
The sale is on till September 26.