Govinda Raju, Nam Alwar and Winston A Henry belong to different pockets of the city but share a common passion.From special editions and army handbooks to old advertisements and magazines, they have it all, and their collection continues to grow
CHENNAI:My fingers trace the dusty spines of browning books. I greet C Rajagopalacari, Alexander Dumas, and a 1968 print Agatha Christie. There are at least another 5,000 more writers, novelists, poets, and historians, precariously stacked floor to ceiling in this small four-by-four-metre room. I take in the pleasant musty scent of withering parchment, flipping through an old 1950s’ National Geographic magazine. “Sorry to have kept you waiting for an hour,” says Govinda Raju, owner of Rare Books, as he steps into the library.
The 82-year-old settles down behind his desk, cluttered with heaps of books, magazines, and an old telephone. “I have been collecting books ever since I completed my college education, back in the 1960s,” he says. Govinda loved collecting the numbered Penguin paperbacks, which were available for a steal in those times. “They cost just four annas, and that’s just a rupee,” he says. His collection grew, starting with only Penguin books and then expanding to more. Govinda travelled across the city on his bike, visiting old paper shops and rummaging through their bundles. And before he knew it, he had a large collection of over 10,000 books.
“But now I have only around 5,000 books, I sold my whole collection 10 years ago — about seven tonnes of books. What you see now is my second collection,” he says opening his arms to indicate his garage turned bookstore, where several city historians, professors, collectors and hobby readers have discovered their greatest find or the next read.
The gentleman who bought his previous collection, Winston A Henry, is a retired entrepreneur with a penchant for books. His phenomenal purchase from Govinda Raju was a major addition to his already growing book collection. “I grew up in Africa, where my father worked in a textile industry. A British family left us a huge collection of books. I loved reading about wildlife, and that’s how I started collecting,” Winston says. His most treasured book is a first edition copy of the book, Lawrence of Arabia.
His collection has a mix of fiction, rare books like Mein Kampf 1939 edition, and several pocket-size army books, specially printed for soldiers. You will also find a copy of the war logs by ES Karl, a Royal Indian Air Office, and World War 2 fighter pilot, amongst other original rare books. “Preserving these old books involves spraying anti-termite medicine every three months. I keep the books away from the wall and in a well-lit room,”he shares.
Several kilometres away from Winston’s Anna Nagar book collection, is Nam Alwar’s book stall, by the side of Luz Church Road. Alwar is known for his nominal rates for academic books. “If you ask anyone for Alwar Kadai, they will show you the way. It used to be much bigger, but now it’s been reduced to this small stall,” says Sathish, Alwar’s grandson. Alwar arrived in the city from Rameswaram when he was 15, worked in a hotel, and started collecting old school books to sell them as a hobby. Now 92, Alwar has retired from the shop, and his grandson takes care. “But his mind is always with the shop and he keeps talking about the books,” his daughter Ammu says. “He used to have books on astrology, Mahabharata, Thirukkural, Bharatiyar collections, the Gita etc. But now we have several second-hand engineering and academic books as well,” Sathish explains.
Treasures of all kinds
Books are not the only treasures you will find in these collector’s collections. Govinda Raju claims that old advertisements he’d saved from newspapers and magazines are his highest grossing items. He takes out a folder, with preserved newspapers including Illustrated Weekly of India, edition 1929, old ads of Cinthol soap, Lipton tea, Chevrolet cars and many more, all ranging from the 1930s onwards. He has over 6,000 of them, and they sell for anywhere between ‘50 till ‘1000. “These newspapers clippings and ads are rarer to find. Even books you can find online sometimes,” Govinda Raju confides.
Winston too has a large selection of photographs and newspaper clippings including the wide coverage of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. His store boasts vintage cameras like Leica, Kodak box cameras and rolls of films from 50’s Calcutta. “Even I don’t know what all treasures lay hidden in these boxes,” Winston chuckles.
And treasures these are, some in plain sight, or as in the case of a lucky American customer, hidden in the binds of books. “Andrew Whitehead purchased a ‘Penguin New Writing,’ from me, and he found a half-anna ticket issued by Madras Electric Tramways, which is today worth Rs 4,000! In all the years I had that book, I hadn’t found it!” Govinda Raju laughs. We wonder what other wisps of history are hidden within these tomes.
FOR DETAILS
Rare books, by Govindaraju — books on English and Tamil literature, history, palmistry, fiction, poetry, old advertisements and posters; Unique: Indian Review magazines. Range: Rs 10 to Rs 5,000. Call: 24936152,
W&H Book Search, Anna Nagar, Rare army books, encyclopedias, atlas, books on wildlife, vintage records, camera models and photographs. Range: Rs 20 to Rs 1,500. Certain rare original books cost more. Call: 9841337977
Alwar’s Book Shop, Luz Church Road, Mylapore. Novels, Tamil books, academic books. Cost range: Rs 75 onwards. Academic books Rs 150, onward, depending on author and date of publication. Call: 8056028168