Stumbling onto literary treasures in a crumbling box of paperbacks
From rock music magazines dating back to the 60s and hardbound books on French décor to a March 1930 copy of the popular out-of-circulation American women’s magazine McCall’s, the box contained uncanny treasures of the literary world.
Bathed in sunlight that filters through its red curtains, the DLF-2 community library is a long hall with blue cabinets packed with books from across genres. When I visited this library for a feature on public libraries, a worn-out carton placed on a wooden table at the end of the library caught my attention. I walked towards it to have a closer look and peeping out at me were some curious titles in paperback and hardcover. One of them, in a mossy green cover, was titled ‘How to decorate your home in colonial style.’
Jostling for visibility next to it was a book titled ‘Chinese Cookery’. It was a thin paperback published in 1977 priced at ₹8. The first chapter read, ”Many people consider Chinese food too exotic to be attempted in the ordinary kitchen...”. Clearly, the book was written prior to the Indo-Chinese food explosion in the country, and at a time when a 10-rupee note was a tidy sum.
I dug deeper even as the frayed carton threatened to tear apart. What I saw next was no less delightful — three or four dusty hardbound books in a language that was not Hindi, French, English or a language I could recognise.
I flipped through them without understanding a word, but one of them had the Mona Lisa on the cover. I had no idea what those books contained and how they came to be there, but I did learn one word that day — inhaltsverzeichnis, the German word for contents. As I kept picking dust-laced books one by one from the carton, my surprise only surged.
From rock music magazines dating back to the 60s and hardbound books on French décor to a March 1930 copy of the popular out-of-circulation American women’s magazine McCall’s, the box contained uncanny treasures of the literary world. However, it would soon be time for me to visit the next library.
I decided to give the carton one last look and what popped out was a dark green hardbound book, on which, in faded golden letters, was written Vasilisa The Beautiful.
It was a Russian fairy tale book for children. The story of Vasilisa the Beautiful was actually the Russian version of Cinderella. Another story, of Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka, was, I realised after reading a few lines, the Russian version of the popular children’s tale of Hansel and Gretel. Besides, there were several other popular kids’ tales, with the only difference being the Russian characters.
I was elated with my findings and promised to return to the library, but when I did, the carton was gone. The library was being refurbished and the polite librarian told me that the carton had fallen apart and the books had to be stacked up. I looked in the cupboards and shelves for those charming books and titles I had seen, but after a tedious search, could only find the German books. The other gems had been lost somewhere in the library.
However, this experience served to reiterate the fact that libraries are still magical places filled with treasure troves. You never know what surprise awaits in those racks, shelves and pages.
Kankana is a reporter with the Gurugram bureau who covers lifestyle