Geetanjali Krishna: Pleasure in old treasures

So you’re collecting books these days!” said a distant relative rather accusingly the other day. I hung my head and said yes. “I have two large trunks in Allahabad filled with books and manuscripts, some of which date back to eighteenth century!” said she, “including an invitation to the Coronation Durbar of 1911which my grandfather attended …would you be interested in such things?” I looked at her incredulously. Of course I was interested! Old books have always fascinated me. As a child in Mussoorie, I remember sifting through dusty tomes at the second-hand shops in Landour, wondering who their previous owners had been. My conversation with her rekindled this old passion, and I began to wonder why there were so few good second-hand bookshops in the city now.

Then I met KD Aryan, who’s operated a dilapidated little bookshop tucked away in a narrow lane of Hauz Khas village for the last thirty years. He started initially with art books, but soon his interests spread to books on history, natural history and architecture, as well as old maps, manuscripts and Hindi film posters. Aryan’s father used to be in the publishing business, and his original idea was to sell books on art. “Then I found that the kabadiwalas had veritable treasure troves of old books sold to them by weight, by unthinking owners,” recounted Aryan. Combing through cartons of dusty books that nobody wanted, he found himself getting interested in other books as well. “There soon came a time when every Sunday, I’d visit the Chor Bazaar under Red Fort, then the pavement book market in Daryaganj…and suddenly realise that hours had passed!” said he. Decades later, a friend helped him source old maps online, saving him a lot of legwork. “But sadly, he passed away last year, and I haven’t found anyone else who can help me,” he said.

Many rare finds have passed through Aryan’s hands. “Someone once offered me a 1776 edition of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. I don’t know why, but I told him I needed to think it over. The next thing I know, the seller left it with someone and went off to Patna! The next day, I realised I must somehow get the book. With greatest difficulty I traced the seller, then we both traced his book. Eventually I bought it for Rs 800,” he recounted. Years later, he managed to get $2,000 at a Christie’s auction for the same book… Another rare book he bought a couple of years ago was an 1885 edition of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species.

Aryan’s clients are mostly foreigners. The demand for old books, he avers, is immense. “The regulars are mostly from the embassies. But I also have a fair number of walk-in customers. They usually pick up old maps, film posters and suchlike,” said he. “The books that have generated the most enduring interest are old biographies of Nehru and Gandhi, tomes on Mughal architecture and illustrated hunting books that used to be popular in the previous century,” said he.

Browsers note that the newest books in his shop are at least a decade old. “I actually don’t like new books anymore,” said he, “the smell of old paper, the feel of a page crisped with age … how can a new book match that pleasure!” And pleasure in old treasures is what keeps this 65-year old going, even though his business has always moved at a leisurely pace. But Aryan is in no hurry: “in my line, you’ve got to be patient — first you have to wait to an old treasure to come to you, then for the right buyer to take it away!”