Golden Age for Bibliophiles

Older readers may recall when imported paperbacks were priced quite high given the purchasing power of the rupee. This writer has with him an imported paperback copy of "Pinocchio" bought in 1947 for the then princely sum of one & a half rupee. Probably a gold sovereign was Rs.20 then. Now with the sovereign at about Rs.35,000, the book would have cost about Rs.2625. Now even though many paperbacks cost as much or even more, there are many classics available for one tenth that price. For example a new copy of the nearly 1000 page classic "Don Quixote" is sold for less than Rs.200!

In the Cold War period in the middle of the twentieth century, as part of their cultural outreach, USA & USSR marketed their literature at subsided prices. Whereas a new paperback copy of Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi" was sold for half a rupee, Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" in a two volume hardcover set was sold for just Rs.100.

If that is the story of paperbacks, the price of finely printed hardbound illustrated books went on sky-rocketing until USA & UK began to outsource their fine printing work to first Europe & then Far East (mainly China) where labour was relatively cheap. Though the publishers did this to keep their costs down, the ultimate beneficiaries were the Bibliophiles, who could get the books of their choice for a lesser price than if they were printed in USA or UK.

Add to this the eye-popping improvement in printing technology & the fortuitous use of  E-commerce platforms by players like Amazon, who brought the world's bookstores to the doorsteps of the readers, the Utopian Paradise of book-lovers has finally arrived!