The Sunday Book Market

Ever wonder what happens to your old text books, dime novels, study guides, and worn-out classics after you’re done with them? Perhaps donated them to a school book fair, dropped them off at Housing Works or sold them back to Barnes and Nobles? Well, friends, I think I’ve found the answer.

They end up on the streets of Delhi’s Sunday afternoon book market in the old city. A friend who is an avid reader brought me here last Sunday and I was amazed to see blocks and blocks of book-sellers hawking the books of yesteryear (and, to be fair, a couple of new releases as well, carefully displayed in plastic wrapping). Each bookseller seemed to have his own specialty but I was surprised to see just how many old text-books and study guides were on offer; it felt like these were the bulk of the books being sold. I have no idea if a person looking for a specific text book would be able to find it, but I’m pretty sure if you could find a text book on any given subject you were interested in: organic chemistry, US federal law, basic algebra; early modern European history, SAT guides, etc.

There was also a healthy offering of drug store romance novels with pec-a-licious Fabio adorning the cover, not to mention an generous assortment of self-help books, cook books, and, of course, a whole slew of books in Hindi. Not to be outdone, there were also several hawkers with carefully-curated collections of novels and literally classics. I myself pounced on a beat-up copy of Holy Cow (a book about an expat struggling in India that I’d been wanting to read) for only $1.50 while my friend picked up a slightly-charred copy of The Little Prince (the bottom left corner was burned away, but the book itself was perfectly legible) for only $0.50. She also engaged in a fierce bout of bargaining with one vendor for 10 titles she wanted to buy, but ultimately walked away when the vendor refused to lower his price more than $4 per book. (For that price, she says, she can buy the books new.)

One other little fun bit I noticed about the book market—at some places they even sold books by weight! (I bet those vendors don’t do much trade in law texts, though—damned heavy things.)

 [What a bargain! Best-sellers for only Rs. 200 per kilo!]