Post 1 of 4: The Delhi Haul-1

After a gap of six months I was sent to Delhi again for another training course, two courses actually, that would take me away from Hyderabad for two weeks. I was a substitute since the person who had been originally dropped off for some reason. I was a last minute substitute and I had no choice but to agree. On one hand I was reluctant to go because it meant I would spend the Diwali festival away from the family, and on the other hand I wanted to go because I wanted to check out the second hand book market that was now shifted to Mahila Haat in Delhi. I had two weekends and I planned to make the most of it only I did not account for the smog.

Back at home after the first spell of training at an institute in Greater Noida, I ventured out to Connaught Place on Saturday morning. My first stop was Anil Book Corner at CP where I found a copy of ‘Johnnie Sahib’ by Peter Scott. I bought it one the recommendation of the seller and also because I was the first customer and did not want to disappoint him. Later I went to one of my old haunts- Jacksons Books at Paharganj. At Jacksons I found three good titles.

Though I have been reading about Ngaio Marsh and had also come across some of his titles for some reason I did not feel like picking up any title to read. It is dumb I know but that’s how I am. Anyway, the first title I saw at Jacksons Books was ‘Death of a White Tie’ by Ngaio Marsh that I decided to buy though I could have bought it cheap at Abids back home in Hyderabad. This copy of ‘Death of a White Tie’ by Ngaio Marsh was in quite a good condition so it was value for money.

Another title that I almost grabbed the moment I spotted it was a nice copy of ‘New Grub Street’ by Paul Gissing. I remember I had this title jotted down in one of my notebooks so I did not even look properly at the book which turned out to be a mistake. Later when I checked out the book at home I noticed that the first four pages of the Introduction pages were missing. Even after a couple of decades of book collecting I sometimes forget to check if all the pages are intact before buying a book.

When I saw a beautiful copy of ‘The Pillars of Hercules’ by Paul Theroux I lied to myself that I did not possess a copy of this title. So in it went into the haul that threatened to grow into more than a half a dozen books if I did not leave the bookstore immediately. Reluctantly I left the book store because there was more book hunting to do the next day, being a Sunday, at the second hand book market that was shifted from Daryaganj to Mahila Haat.

More about the rest of the Delhi haul in the next three posts over the coming days.