The changing folios of College Street

Kolkata's second-hand book bazaar isn't what it used to be.

Having spent the better part of his life among them, Abdul Wahab is old and frayed like the books he sells. The owner of a small, second-hand bookstall on the pavement outside Presidency College, in the heart of Kolkata's famous College Street book market, Wahab is a connoisseur of books.

And it is stalls like his that have made College Street something of a treasure trove for readers. Stories abound about those who have chanced upon gems at these stalls "" rare novels, expensive foreign publications picked up for a steal, early editions, or even books out of print.

But lately, the second-hand bookstalls have found the going difficult. "Serious buyers have gone down by more than 50 per cent. Even for rare books, people are simply not willing to pay more than Rs 200-300," rues Wahab.

What a climbdown from the Rs 20,000 he got for a family history of the nizams of Hyderabad in 1985-86. His daily sales are still a respectable Rs 400-Rs 1,000, but margins have shrunk.

There was a time when he could get a premium of 30-40 per cent, but now he is often compelled to sell a book for just Rs 10 above its cost price. A couple of months ago he managed to sell a Rs 100 book for Rs 1,000. But that was only because Sisirbindu Chaudhuri, a publisher, needed it whatever the cost.

Says Chaudhuri, a bookseller himself, "These old booksellers are quite extraordinary. They may not be highly educated, but they have a strong instinct about books. They can make out a book's worth simply by looking at it."

Demand is not the only problem. Says bookseller Tapan Duttagupta, "Earlier, we'd buy from the descendents of old aristocratic families who had cupboards full of books. But those who buy rare books nowadays are knowledgeable about their worth, as a result we rarely get good stuff."

Caught between these cross-currents, and with the rise in the cost of living, Wahab says he doesn't have much left over after paying Rs 3,000 to his two helpers.

But at least he is surviving. Most of the 52 stall owners along the Presidency College wall, the oldest part of the book market, have started stocking textbooks and guidebooks. Some old-timers have sold out, or rented out their stalls, the going rate being Rs 1,500-2,000.

No longer does the Presidency College railing have anything to distinguish it from the stalls across the road, or anywhere else in the 3.5 sq km stretch that constitutes the book market's school-level textbooks, competition success manuals, computer and management books.

For this is what 80 per cent of the over Rs 200-crore turnover consists of in the 2,000 odd shops in the College Street area report, says Dulal Bhattasali, vice-president, Booksellers and Publishers Association of Bengal.

"Of the rest, there are the general reference books and Bengali fiction. Second-hand books come in last." Amar Deb of Sarat Book House makes a more forthright comment: "Textbooks and guides are choking College Street."