When Satyajit Ray was preparing to shoot Shatranj Ke Khiladi, he wanted 19th-century Awadh to be historically accurate. For the film’s costumes, his team turned to visual records of the period, including prints by Balthazar Solvyns, the Belgian artist whose detailed works documented the people, customs and dresses of India. One such print depicting the film’s opening cockfight scene, with men gathered around the contest in the kurtas and churidars, hangs at Memoirs of India, a Delhi store specialising in antiquarian books, maps and prints, along with many plate books by Solvyns. “The basic reference and pictures for the film were taken from our collection,” says Rajiv Jain, the owner. “My father was also acknowledged in the film.”
The third-generation bookstore, located in a residential area of South Extension, carries on its bookshelves, walls and tables the rich legacy of India and the world. The collection ranges from books printed in the 1500s to modern first editions and signed copies. Prices can begin at a few thousand rupees and run into lakhs. A signed copy of Gandhi’s My Experiments with Truth lies in one corner, while elsewhere one might find first editions—often signed—of books by Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore, Pablo Picasso, Bill Clinton, and Neil Armstrong, among others. There are also literary landmarks and first editions, from Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and Rudyard Kipling’s Kim to works by Salman Rushdie and JRR Tolkien. And just when the collection seems to have covered enough of history, there are maps, some dating back to the early 16th century, revealing how early cartographers saw and understood the world.
The bookstore is owned by Rajiv and his children, Rashi Jain and Rishabh Jain. The core collection was built by Rajiv, who entered the trade almost by accident in the 1980s, when his family acquired a large collection of books belonging to a Parsi gentleman.
The decision to display the collection at a World Book Fair in Delhi in 1984 changed its course. The then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited their stall. “She spent half an hour at the stall and bought multiple books,” recalls Rajiv. He was then a college student, and the encounter encouraged him to explore the trade. He began travelling to the UK, one of the world’s major centres for antiquarian and rare books. From 1988, he began dealing in books there, spending long periods in London while continuing his work in Delhi. In UK, he learnt how to assess books, research their bibliographical history, understand auctions and determine their value.
Over the years, that knowledge became the foundation of the family collection. Today, Rashi and Rishabh continue the trade, learning from their father while expanding the bookstore’s reach. Both have played a role in taking the business online and to social media. “Before, our clientele was limited to closed circles and word-of-mouth,” Rashi says. “What has really helped us build a larger customer base is the website and Instagram.” The younger generation is more interested in signed copies of books such as Harry Potter, while older scholars and institutions tend to look for historical documentation and old maps.
Increasingly, Rashi says, there are also very young customers. In recent years, she has seen 13- and 14-year-olds arrive at the store with their parents, already knowing what they want to buy. One girl bought a book on Punjab, while a budding artist picked up lithographs. That shift, Rashi believes, has been accelerated by the internet.
The family is also constantly adding to the collection. Books, maps and prints are sourced from dealers, collectors and auctions in India, the UK, Europe, Australia and the US. Each acquisition goes through a process of checking, documentation and assessment. Condition and completeness are particularly important. The books themselves require almost as much care as the knowledge needed to identify them. Temperature, humidity, sunlight and dust can all damage old paper. The store maintains a controlled environment, avoids direct sunlight and uses dehumidifying measures.
For Rajiv, the attraction of the trade has always been partly intellectual. He is quick to talk about the dates, stories, facts and minute details associated with every book, map and print, a knowledge that his children are now inheriting. The transition from one generation to the next is not simply about taking over a business; it is about transferring an expertise that cannot easily be acquired from a catalogue, and then expanding it.
For the Jains, the collection is therefore more than an accumulation of rare books and prints. It is a record of how people have documented, imagined and understood the world, and a legacy that continues to find new readers and collectors even today.
