Dr. Forqan Uddin Ahmed :
The invention of the Gutenberg printing press in Germany in the fifteenth century revolutionised the world of books. Gutenberg used to bring printed books to Frankfurt for sale. After seeing him, other local booksellers also started sitting there with their published books. Buyers from different cities also started coming to buy all those books. And this is how book fairs are introduced in the world. This is how the world’s oldest book fair started in Frankfurt, Germany. With the advent of the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, book fairs were introduced in other European cities as well. The first book fair was organized by Matthew Kerry in 1802 in New York City, USA. In 1875, about 100 publishers organised a large book fair in Clinton, New York.
After the Second World War, in 1949, the German Book Publishers Association launched an official book fair in Frankfurt. This fair is now the oldest book fair in the world. More than 20,000 organisations from more than 100 countries took part in the fair. The London Book Fair was the most popular in the world after Frankfurt. This fair was basically a fair for publishers, readers which don’t get much importance there. Publishers took part in the fair to promote books to be published, to sell books or copy rights from other publishers. In 1979, the largest fair in the Arab world was held in Cairo, the capital of Egypt. Large book fairs also held in Doha, Qatar and Tehran, the capital of Iran. The Moscow International Book Fair, which started in 1977, is recognized as one of the largest book fairs in the world. The Calcutta Book Fair, the largest book fair among Asian countries, started in 1976. According to many, it was the third largest book fair in the world. Bangladesh was the theme country at the 2013 Kolkata Book Fair. The history of book fairs in Bangladesh is older than Kolkata.
The Bangla Academy was established in 1955 for the spread of Bangla language and literature during the Pakistan period. The idea of a book fair first came to the mind of late Sardar Zainuddin, former director of Bangla Academy. When he was in Bangla Academy, this institution used to collect a lot of foreign books. In 1972, after the independence of the country, there was no book fair in the Ekushey programme of Bangla Academy. However, outside the boundary of the Bangla Academy, Ruhul Amin Nizami of Standard Publishers arranged some books of Pragati Prakashani of the then Soviet Union. Following him, Chittaranjan Saha of Muktadhara Prakashani and Tajul Islam of Barnamichil also sat down with their books in the same way. In 1974, a big national literary conference was organised by the Bangla Academy. The conference was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. On that occasion, seven or eight publishers, including Nizami, Chittababu and Barnamichil, sat inside the Academy, arranging books on the eastern wall. In the same year, the first Bangla Academy book was also sold at a stall outside the sales center. As a result the initiatives to organise a book fair at the Bangla Academy gradually increased. In 1978, when Ashraf Siddiqui, the then Director General of the Bangla Academy, book fair gained a solid foundation. When Bangladesh Book Publishers and Sellers Association joined the fair in 1979, the scope of the fair increased a lot. At that time the book fair was held from 7 to 28 February.
At present, publishers, buyers, writers, distributors, importers and exporters from more than a hundred countries from all over the world assemble to the five-day book fair of Frankfurt in October. The importance of the Frankfurt Fair for expanding the range of library and information science-related thinking is immense. It is said to be a place of pilgrimage for the promotion and dissemination of the concept of book production and marketing. The specialty of this fair is to nominate a country as ‘Guest of Honor’ every year and to show respect to their literary culture. The Delhi International Book Fair started its journey in 1982 with a collection of books in different languages. Organised by the Indian National Book Trust, the fair has caught everyone’s eye for arranging high quality book exhibitions. Every year a traditional book fair is held in Cairo, Egypt with the help of popular books to help the children to develop their thinking. The market for manuscripts, old books and geographical maps sits at the California International Book Fair. People from about 30 countries gather here to buy and sell all the expensive books. The eight-day book fair in Taipei, Taiwan, in February, features publications on ancient Chinese culture and traditions. The distinctive character of this book fair is that here Taiwan exchanges views on their publishing potential as well as internal economic success and peace. A multinational book fair has been set up in Jerusalem in the Middle East with the joint efforts of 40 countries. Books on human rights are awarded every year at this fair. Therefore, this book fair is believed to have a special role in the development of humanity in the war-torn modern world. Books from different countries of four continents were collected at the Calcutta Book Fair. The specialty of this fair is that the literary theme of each country is determined as the theme of the event. The Asia-Pacific Literary Festival is held every January in Jaipur, India.
Professionalism is very important in publishing. Unfortunately, it is still not well established in the publication world of Bangladesh. We do not have professional language editors, production experts, creative managers, etc. in our country. It is necessary to create various websites to publish information about authors and publishers. In order to develop artistic creativity, the issue of establishing cultural institutions and cultural relations should also be considered on a priority basis. This issue has become very important to improve or ensure the quality of the book.
(Dr. Forqan is former Deputy Director General, Bangladesh Ansar & VDP).
