Last Sunday at Abids was an absolute delight finding five great titles though the festival had made the shopkeepers open their shops which meant the second hand booksellers had to shift to other spots. But only a few of them had to do it and many other second hand booksellers were at their usual places. A few minutes into the market I saw a table with Rs 50 only written on a board and felt drawn to it. On the table I found a copy of an early edition of ‘The Snow Leopard’ by Peter Matthiessen. The first copy ot this title I had picked up more than two decades ago was of the same edition. Though I have two copies already I couldn’t resist buying this copy too so in it went into my haul.
On the same table was a beautiful
and almost brand new copy of ‘Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind’ by Shunryu Suzuki,
another title I had found long back. I couldn’t walk away without buying it so I
picked it up. I felt it was a great start to the Sunday browsing at Abids and
hurried to other sellers hoping to find more good titles.
Another few minutes and I found a
beautiful, original copy of ‘Maximum City’ by Suketu Mehta, a title that I had
been looking for since a long time. I think this is the original edition but I am
not sure. Anyway I was quite thrilled to find it since I wanted to read it. I got
it for just hundred rupees which was an unbelievable price to pay for such a
good book in a nice condition.
With the same seller was another
title- ‘Red April’ by Santiago Roncagliolo that intrigued me. On the cover it
was mentioned that it was translated by Edith Grossman, translator of books of
famous Latin American writers. Apart from the translator’s name I also
discovered that it was published by Atlantic Books so I felt it could be a good
book though I had not heard of Santiago Roncagliolo until last Sunday. I got
this book too for only a hundred rupees.
Wherever I am I am always on the
lookout for travel titles especially those by Jan Morris and Dervla Murphy
whose ‘Full Tilt’ I have been unable to find. But last Sunday I found another
title by her, ‘Where the Indus is Young’ by Dervla Murphy. I felt very excited
when I spotted it on a shelf with a seller who asks for very high prices. So I waited
with bated breath while he checked the book after I handed it to him to tell me
the price. I breathed a sigh of relief when he asked hundred rupees for it. It was
quite cheap at that price.
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