June 9, 2002

I grew up in a generation when Foyles of London was considered to be the ultimate in bookshops of English language. Without any doubt it still continues to be one of the best stocked. I can never forget the thrill that I had experienced on my maiden visit to London when walking on the Charing Cross Road I had for the first time seen the flag of Foyles hanging outside the five storeyed building. It was indeed a unique experience to walk through different sections of the bookshop to pick up the titles of choice. But then that was the time almost three decades back when paperbacks were available for 40p and hard cover books were around 5-6. Times have since changed and now paperbacks cost anything between 5 and 10 and hardbacks are between 15 and 40.

The steep rise in the price of new books and best sellers is not the only factor in creating interest in old books. All over the world old bookshops occupy a distinctive place and are generally crowded. These shops do not only stock the best sellers of yesteryear but also a whole range of titles on different subjects which is simply difficult to keep track of because of one’s preoccupation with the comings and goings of life. Quite often many books are out of print having run their full course after their earlier editions have been sold out. A regular visit to old bookshops is an enriching experience. It gives the opportunity to browse and discover some long lost titles and the resultant excitement.

I consider myself rather fortunate that during the course of government service I got the opportunity to travel extensively around the globe. Also because of my facility in English, the most widely spoken and understood language in the world, I was able to pursue this hobby on an international level.

Exploring the realm of old books has led me to evolve some basic rules which in my opinion could be of universal application and relevance. To start with, one has to have a genuine interest in reading which should manifest itself in an everlasting curiosity for books, both old and new.

Secondly, before entering the old bookshop one should be clear about the general area of one’s interests. For example I am always looking for books in the section of biographies/autobiographies, religion, philosophy, history (particularly India-Pakistan), literature and fine arts. This is important because in the old bookshops you come across subjects like horse breeding, fish farming, bird watching and a host of other disciplines which will be enough to effectively distract you from your main interest.

Thirdly, time management is very important otherwise one will end up spending disproportionately long hours in one section without allowing enough time for other sections in which one might be more interested.

Fourth,, if you have any particular book in mind, look for that title in the relevant section first and then go for general browsing.

Fifth,, always have faith in your luck to run into some rare and out-of-print book at a reasonable price to give you added pleasure. And do remember to eat well before you go to a bookshop because it could be energy sapping simply walking around and browsing in a bookshop.

On the basis of my personal experience, let me identify some interesting places for book bargains. The first place which comes to my mind is Hay on Wye in Britain. It is a small town situated in south of Wales, three and a half hour drive northwest of central London. It is known as the Town of Old Books perhaps the only one of its kind in the entire world.

It has a number of large and medium sized bookshops literally housing hundreds of thousands of books on almost all the known subjects under the sun. The prices are very reasonable and the condition of books is generally good. This place has grown over the last 150 or so years because all the shops in the small town give the look of a frozen-in-time architecture of the nineteenth century. The place, however, has gained international recognition and every year in the month of May an international literary conference is held here.

For those who cannot make it to Hay on Wye because of logistic reasons, the cluster of bookshops alongside the Charing Cross road between the Leicester Square underground station to Tottenham Court Road offers a variety of choices to satisfy the craving for lover of books. There are a good number of old bookshops alongwith shops like Foyles, Waterstone, Blackwell, etc. stocking current best sellers. The entire walk of roughly one kilometre is a rather enriching experience for anyone interested in books. On the way is a bookshop named Al-Hoda specializing in various subjects relating to Islam, Muslim history and philosophy.

It was Ezra Pond who had made the famous remark about England and America that here are the two great nations of the world divided by common language. The book printing revolution in the US has, however, done a great service to the cause of English books. Both old and new bookshops are scattered throughout the length and breath of the US. The number of such bookshops is indeed mind boggling.

In New York an old bookshop to visit is The Strand. I was attracted to this bookshop through an advertisement in the weekly books supplement of the New York Times some 25 years ago when I was studying at the Williams College, Massachusetts, US. The advertisement for the bookshop read, “The Strand — eight miles of books”. The advertisement was so catchy that I visited the bookshop soon thereafter. And sure enough I found the bookshop very well stocked with books in excellent conditions and anything between 25 to 50 per cent off the original price.

The most attractive facility was that you could ship the books to Pakistan, or anywhere, right from the shop itself. While making the payments at the counter all you have to do is to tell the cashier about the shipment of books and give your mailing address. After adding the shipping charges they would give your copy of receipt and you walk out of the bookshop exactly as you had walked in minus a couple of hundred dollars or so in your wallet. It takes three to four months for the books to reach Pakistan. Out of the hundreds of books that I have bought from The Strand I have neither lost any parcel nor any single book in the transit. Although New York is full of so many old and new bookshops, in my opinion The Strand stands out in terms of the variety and stocks of books and most remarkably the shipment facility so convenient to foreign visitors.

As for new books, although Foyles of London still looms large over the English bookshops of the world, the likes of Borders, Dillon and Hatchard in UK and Barnes and Noble in the US have also grown significantly over the years. And leaving behind all pretensions of modesty Toronto in Canada proudly boasts of its downtown ‘Biggest bookshop of the world’ — worth a visit all the same.

It is heartening to note that old bookshops are doing a thriving business in cities like Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. A chain of old bookshops have sprung up in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi alongwith the footpath Sunday bookshop bazar in the Cantonment area of Rawalpindi. In Karachi besides the outlet at the Khori Garden regular old book weekly bazar is being held in the premises of Frere Hall every Sunday.

This place is becoming quite popular, both in terms of growing number of books being offered for sale and the visitors who are thronging to this place. I have managed to pick up some rare and out-of-print books both in Urdu and English from here. However, one disappointing aspect of these bazars and outlets is the comparatively high prices of old books which the shop owners demand.

Wherever possible I have advised them to keep the prices pegged at a reasonable level to attract more customers rather than deter the potential buyers. And lower prices are bound to set into play the time tested law of elasticity by more then proportionate increase in the number of book lovers. In these days of exorbitant prices of new books this is one sure way of not only sustaining but also augmenting the book reading habit in the country.

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