‘Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read,’ says Athenaeus. True to it, old books do have patronage at the ongoing Vijayawada Book Festival. One can find people frantically trying to find a pearl of great price within the piles of old books that are stacked at the festival.
English books from literature to philosophy, management to medicine and general books are available at stalls like Padam Book Stall, M.R. Books, and Pratik Books.
“It is not just price, but the rare collection and out-of-print ones that drag the people to old book stores,” explains Dhanunjay Pandey of Pratik Books (stall No. 337).
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People who visit these stalls are diverse, students, professionals and reading enthusiasts are just some of those who buy books. Used and low-priced editions of literature, fiction, philosophy and history etc. are in high demand at these stalls.
“People still love to buy old books. They don’t overlook the old ones even at the book fairs like this,” says Md. Latif of M.R. Books.
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Used books, second-hand books or old books whatever be the epithet, the sellers have good collection, opines Kiranmayi, an engineering student.
The books may be soiled and do not have scent of fresh book, but they still carry value and are worth reading. The books come at throwaway prices, she points out.
An original hardcover of some of these books can cost around Rs.1,000 at a normal bookstore but the used books are sold for just Rs.100 to Rs.400, she adds.
Used books need not essentially have dog-eared pages, cracked spines and scratched covers. The collections are so eclectic that book lovers are seen lost browsing through the pages of old books neatly exhibited.
The seller-speak for novels, memoirs, whodunits, quiz books, classics, encyclopaedias, coffee-table books, pulp fiction, foreign magazines and sometimes, rare first editions.
“For book lovers, it's an opportunity to discover new books and browse through used books. One can spy out many books that are out of print,” says S. Tejaswi, a resident of Krishnalanka.