Sylhet Correspondent :
The old books shops in Sylhet city witness higher sales than the general ones with customers turning to those for the second-hand items available for cheaper round the year.
The customers are mostly students from lower-middle or middle-class families and those searching for rare collections. Having a wide collection of valuable and rare books, these shops cater to the needs of the readers of various choices and tastes. Their collections include contemporary novels, classics, poetries, translations, biographies, short stories, fairy tales, plays, fables and folklores- both in Bangla and English.
The racks are tagged with the labels of related subjects such as literature, philosophy, fiction, science, business etc. The shops in the Chowhatta Point on the city’s Dorgagaet Road mostly serve the interests of the second-hand book customers. The market houses some 5-7 shops with such books and magazines. Second-hand books are also sold on footpaths in front of Shekhghat Market on the Kazirbazar Road.
Dr Aktar Hossain, a former student of Sylhet Osmani Medical College, said he bought a book titled ‘Langman’s Medical Embryology’ at Tk 250 which would cost Tk900 at a general bookstore.
‘Sometimes, we have to depend on such book shops since new edition of some books are not available. We also get original print of some books in these shops. These books might be available in general bookshops in photocopy print where the figures and diagrams are obscure,’ Dr Akter added.
Md Mahbubul Alam, proprietor of ‘Friends Library’ at Raja Mansion, said, most customers of these bookshops are students of BBA, MBA, honours, medical, law and engineering. Students prefer to take reference books on rent and return them after the necessity of the books is over. There is also a high demand for fictions and magazines. There are some teenage customers who usually buy comics, detective and western books. Fashion magazines and interior design magazines have a good number of customers.
There is also demand for art magazines, Alam also said. These bookshops also rent out textbooks, fictions and reference books to customers.
