More than a year ago when it was not possible to go out on Sundays to Abids or to second hand bookstores I lucky enough to be added to WA groups of second hand booksellers. Whenever I saw any title that looked good I put in my claim and most of the time I got them. Some I couldn’t because others claimed them before I could. Last week there was a sale by a seller who always puts up good titles and I claimed three titles before anyone could and got them. These are the three titles I was lucky to get.
I have been frustrated for long for not being able to find even a single title by Bohumil Hrabal ever since I heard the name. I was on the lookout for Bohumil Hrabal titles at Abids, I searched in all the second hand bookstores in Hyderabad but I was not successful. But the moment I saw ‘The Death of Mr Baltisberger’ by Bohumil Hrabal up for claim I waited breathlessly until the hour when the books were open for claims. I claimed this title first as soon as the sale was open for claim and waited nervously until it was time for the seller to put out the list of who got which titles. I felt a thrill when I saw on the list that the book was mine.
There are fourteen stories in this book, translated from Czech by Michael Henry Heim, and the Introduction by Daniel S. Miritz is translated by Kaca Polackova.
I
had found a copy of ‘The Condemned Playground’ by Cyril Connolly many years ago
but haven’t yet got around to reading it for some reason. I was keeping this
wonderful title to read when I had a lot of time on my hands so it remained
unread. Also the cover was a little dirty but it did not matter to me. But when
I saw another copy up for claiming I put in my claim and was relieved to find
that I had got it. The copy I got turned out to be a nice copy with a clean
cover and the book looked almost new.
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