Hard to get
HARSHA MAN MAHARJAN
– The rare book business is expanding in Kathmandu. But the sellers do not want to divulge much information, because they don’t want their competitors to know their trade secrets. So it’s a difficult task finding out what really goes on in this sector. It is difficult to find out who is engaged in the business. If we google the rare book market in Nepal, chances are only Pilgrims Book House will come up. But there are quite a few other traders, who prefer to keep a low profile.
Rare book sellers are quite rare in Kathmandu. And they don’t only deal in hard-to-find books. They keep all the popular titles in stock, as rare books account for only a small portion of their business. Many booksellers believe that Pilgrims started the rare book business some time in the mid-1980s. Nagendra Singh and Kiran Ghimire once worked as managers at Pilgrims. They were there for about 10 years. After learning the techniques of the book trade, they started out on their own and set up Vision Books and Sagun Books respectively. Both offer second-hand and rare books. Vajra Books also sells rare books on mountaineering. Its owner Vidur Dongol used to work for Mandala Book Point.According to Pilgrims, it holds about 3,000 rare titles on subjects like religion, philosophy, Asian studies, Sikkim, Tibet, social science and Nepal.