Chapter-5

Collecting Old Books

AS everyone might know, collecting old books is not quite easy. It takes time, much effort and much money too so that one needs patience and resilience. If not, one easily gives up collecting old books.

When a person can collect the books he wants, he will definitely be the happiest person in the world and it adds credits to his relentless endeavor. And, the satisfaction resulting from the complete collection of works is quite charming, and fulfilled. Therefore, there are some private collectors who like to collect the whole set of a certain author or a certain field.

Once Lin heard from his uncle, who told him that a famous physician in the city liked to collect the whole set of James Bond and he bought the books wherever he could find them. Lin marvel at such an adamant passion.

For Lin, at first, he just collected a few books in his affordable means. Later, he continued to collect old books, especially books on Burma because when he saw them, he was happy and complacent. He did not know why he loved old books.

In the book collecting circle, some books on Burma are in the list of rare books which might claim a few hundred dollars to purchase them. Lin knew some of the rare books such as History of Rangoon, Old Burma Early Pagan, etc.

In his bookshelves, old books were occupied the racks. Seeing them, he felt proud and satisfied. Lin had got a plan to do with them later in his life, he might set up a public library with his collection or he would hold an exhibition with those books. It was with this purpose he had been collecting them painstakingly.

In Yangon, Pansodan Street and it’s environ 37^th Street in Yangon were famous for availability of second-hand books and there are some other second-hand book stalls along Bogyoke Aung San Road where a group of cinema halls sprawled.

These places were the venues or haunts for local writer’s circle or literature enthusiasts whether they may be a university student, a graduate, a government officer, a company employer or employee, or a scholar walks down on these streets, looking for the books they wanted to read.

They chose these places because they could get the books they wanted with cheap price and they could choose them at their own disposal. They could also meet their friends, or made an appointment with them at teashops near the bookshops for chatting. Talking literature or books over a cup of tea was very enjoyable. And, that pleasure was addicted too.

Lin knew that those used books came into the hands of second-hand booksellers through one of these means: some families sold old books which were once read and admired by their grandpas, uncles or fathers to booksellers in these streets when those persons passed away. Or they sold them when they moved to new cities or towns when books became burdensome for them.

Old booksellers knew where and how they could find those books, and they were very good at hunting and stalking them. Even they knew that at which part of the country had the most reading rate. Some book hunters rushed to the shops in the quarters where they could obtain books. Those shops were meant for buying old stuff like tin pots, broken radios or TVs, or outdated newspaper.

The shop runners were mostly Indians to whom the second-hand book vendors negotiated the prices of the old books which were ready to send to the paper making factory. It was like they saved old books from disappearing from the scene. Those people did not know much about the value of books and so, the book hunters could negotiate with them easily as long as they paid them for those books.

When old booksellers got those old books, they repaired them a bit by gluing this and that, even some books were bonded with thick paper or cards to restore the condition of the books or to extend the books’ lives.

In that way, old books became survive in the hands of the book lovers again and they could claim more prices than before. Through old books, people could learn a lot of things relating to history, literature, grammars, and others.

In that reason, Lin walked down on these streets to look back into the past history of the city, and the nation as well as to enhance his knowledge. He received this habit from his uncle who explained about the importance of history to define one’s existence in the contemporary context.

Once his uncle told Lin, “Lin, study history well. You need to know the history and when you know it, you will know what you should do in the future. Your view will also be widened.” Lin remembered those words.

Because of frequent visits to old book selling streets, he befriended with some booksellers who readily welcomed and invited him to have a cup of tea at a nearby teashop. At that time, he accepted their invitation, but sometimes when he had jobs to do, he simply reclined their offer by saying them that they could keep it for the next time.

A bookseller named U Tin reduced book price when Lin wanted a book from him. Lin respected booksellers like U Tin because though their income was meager, they showed much happiness to do this business. It seemed that their lives were perfect with reading books alone.

Sometimes, U Tin told Lin, “Lin, my dear, you know, you should not be shortage of your knowledge. You need to fill up your knowledge tank with reading. Reading will make you a perfect man. As you know, we are the provider of knowledge but some think that we sell cheap. Imagine how important our role in the society.”

He nodded his head with a smile on his face while he was saying and took a gulp of tea instantly. Lin wondered how these kinds of people were living sanguinely in the city. They did not know market economy or market demand. They just simply sold books to people as the way they liked to sell.