Get 'book'ed!

At a time where exchanging old for new is the norm, bookstores selling second-hand books across the city have managed to retain their charm and are bustling with activity. Says Nool Pandian, owner of Om Adhi Parasakthi Book Store located on PT Rajan Salai, KK Nagar, "No matter how much people rely on the internet to read, it is virtually impossible to find old books online. This is why such books are still in demand."

This book stall bears testimony to the varied genres available -both for leisure reading and for academic purposes. Pandian who has been running the bookstore since 1984 says that as early as three decades ago when he started selling books,he had more than 1000 books, both in English and Tamil Literature. Today, he has around 50 lakh books, out of which one lakh are novels. He adds, “Some of the books I have are extremely rare-Romola by George Eliot, A Book of Golden Deeds by Charlotte Mary Yonge, Barbara Cartland and more.”

Govinda Raju, the owner of Antiquarian and Rare Books store located in R. A. Puram adds that he has rare collections like Ancient classics for English Readers by Cicero, John L Stoddard's Lectures, Emerson's Complete Works, and Harper's Magazines.

New Moore Market near Chennai Central station is yet another popular book haunt for those who love a good read. N Jaisankar, owner of Sri Jai Book Stall in Moore Market talks about his association with collecting and selling old novels as well as academic books. He says, "Textbooks fetch me a lot of money especially from July to September. However, for the remaining part, I sell a lot of old novels. Some of the books which are in great demand include Erle Stanley Gardner, P.G Wodehouse, Jim Corbett, etc."

All these bookstores are affordable and the price of old books they sell range from Rs. 20 - Rs.500. They have around 30 to 50 customers visiting them and this way, they earn atleast Rs 2000 on a daily basis.

Clearly, such bookstores are here to stay as there are people who choose to frequent them. Sandhya Sridhar, Assistant Managing Copy Editor at Scientific Publishing Services says that she has been buying books from old bookstores for seven years now. "I have picked up some really good finds. Getting hold of some of the old classics, especially original prints are pretty hard. This is where such bookstores make a difference. For instance, I have original prints of books by L M Montgomery as part of my collection- all of which I got from old bookstores."

R Nallathambi, a regular customer at Om Adhi Parasakthi Book Store says that he has collected 300 old Russian novels, all from this bookstore and that he has an avid interest in old historic novels. He also adds that he particularly values a 120-year old book on Madras.

Usha Nandhini, a student at stella maris says, "We tend to underestimate old books. People should visit old bookstores more often to in order to get a feel of the old charm. I, for one read old books and two of my favourites include The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky."