Friday Triple Post -II: The Book Fair Haul

After waiting for nearly two weeks, that is, since the day I read about the dates of the 27th Hyderabad Book Fair there was no way I could not stop myself from being present at the gates of the Book Fair on the first day. Despite a very busy schedule I managed to squeeze in half hour to take a quick look at the stalls. As usual, though the Book Fair was inaugurated more than half the total stalls were yet to be opened. Luckily for me there were two second hand bookstores open- one was Prateek Book Store from Pune I guess and another from Thane of which I do not recollect the name. In that half hour of hurried browsing I managed to find two good books and surprisingly got them very, very cheap. I had expected the prices in this year’s book fair to be very high but it wasn’t so.

The first book I spotted was Robert B. Parker’s ‘The Professional’ that seemed a brand new copy by Berkeley. It was a title I did not possess so I grabbed it without any second thoughts. I had come prepared to pay more than what I usually pay for second hand books but I was pleasantly surprised when the stall person said the book was for just fifty rupees! On the cover it said ‘First time in Paperback’ so I guess I was lucky to find it. I felt it was a good start to my book fair hunt. The next find was an ever better book.

My first ever Jorge Louis Borges book was ‘Borges on Writing’ that I found long back at Abids though it wasn’t a book by Borges. The second find was ‘Labyrinths’ that I found sometime back. Last Friday at the book fair I found my third JLB title. It wasn’t a novel but a collection of short stories titled ‘Doctor Brodie’s Report’ that was a slim book of little more than a hundred pages, 102 pages to be exact. Surprisingly, I got this book also very cheap. I paid only fifty rupees for this book that had eleven short stories – The Gospel According to Mark, The Unworthy Friend, The Duel, The End of the Duel, Rosendo’s Tale, The Intruder, The Meeting, Juan Murana, The Elder Lady, Guayaquil, and Doctor’s Brodie’s Report.

A pleasant surprise at the Book Fair was a stall devoted entirely to pens. There was a stall of ‘Emonte’ pens that displayed some rather solidly good looking ball point, roller and fountain pens. The pens appeared good both in looks as well as functionality. However, the pens were priced quite high though there were a few pens that were affordable. Some of the pens were Diva, Bliss, Sarkozy and so on. I got hold of a catalogue and promised to buy at least on the next visit I planned to make just a couple of days later, it not the next day.

My next visit to the Book Fair came sooner than expected. I was there on Tuesday again. On the first day of the fair there weren’t many of the second book stalls open yet so I was eager to check those out first. As it happened the second hand books stalls were the only ones I checked out in the hour and half I was in the Book Fair. There was one open that I had not checked on the first day so I went in. I think it was the stall of the ‘Unique Book Center’ Nampally guys where I found a Chandler title. Strangely enough, last year too at the Book Fair I had found a Raymond Chandler title- ‘Playback’ and this year it was ‘Farewell, My Lovely’ that I found on top of a shelf. I just spotted the name ‘Chandler’ on the spine and took it out. I was thrilled with the find and even more thrilled to see the price on the label- Rs 60 ! Now I have four Chandler titles- The Simple Art of Murder, Playback, The High Window and Farewell, My Lovely. But it is ‘The Big Sleep’ that I am looking for and hope to find it soon.

I was still high on that Chandler find when I came across my second find of the day at another second hand book stall. I was just leaving the stall when I spotted ‘Dave Barry’s Money Secrets’ which is one of the few Dave Barry titles that I do not possess. I grabbed and showed it to the seller to find out how much the book cost. I had found the book in a rack of books selling for Rs 50 but I thought this book would be priced higher. I was wrong since the guy said ‘Rs 50’ which wasn’t one tenth of the original price of the book. It was a hardcover copy with the jacket intact and I couldn’t believe I had found four good books at the Book Fair. What was amazing was that all the four books I bought did not cost me more than sixty rupees. It was unbelievable since the previous year none of the book I had bought came for less than hundred rupees.

I am planning another visit on Thursday because I planned to pick up another book I saw but did not buy. In Diana Athill’s ‘Stet’ she suggests a list of books that one ought to buy if one comes across them in second hand bookshops, and one title in that list was ‘Azadi’ by Chaman Nahal which she described as ‘ A Superb novel about a Hindu family’s experience of the partitioning of India, which ought to be recognized as a classic.’ Fortunately, the stall where I saw this title had more at least three few copies which was one reason I did not buy the book right away. Still, I am feeling apprehensive whether I’d find the book on my next visit.