The popularity of rare and first edition books at Indian auction houses

Why Indian auctioneers are adding first and limited edition books to their sales categories

In the universe of rare book collectors, Sunil Baboo’s reputation precedes him. A few years ago, his son Akshay, a winemaker, approached an antiquarian book dealer in France to look for a birthday gift for his father — say, a historical volume on India. It did not take ten minutes for the Frenchman to ask if he was perhaps related to a Sunil, and throw in a 30 per cent discount to boot.

From saving bubblegum wrappers in his teens, Baboo, an advertising and management consultant from Bengaluru, moved to searching for books. The earliest of these, a first edition of