Bibliophiles Mecca

K.K.S. MURTHY, 82, is a minor celebrity in Bangalore as the owner of Select Bookshop, a bibliophiles Mecca. His shop attracts visitors from across the globe and his fine skills as a raconteur add to its charm. A visit to this legendary bookshop is a must for anyone looking for an obscure tome or a rare, out-of-print edition or just a chat with the convivial Murthy, who has a number of tales to tell. Rare are the visitors who do not enjoy trawling through the exhaustive collection of used books at Select Bookshop. The quiet hospitality and eager willingness of Murthy and his son Sanjay to help customers track down the books is an added incentive to visit the store.

Murthys grandfather was a medical officer in Kurnool, now in Andhra Pradesh, and was a rich man. His eldest son, K.B.K. Rao (Murthys father), was a lawyer whose only indulgence was buying books, especially from England. Murthy recalls his father buying regularly from the English bookseller Foyles. His passion eventually resulted in the establishment of Select Bookshop. Among the many well-known visitors to Select Bookshop was Philip Spratt, who was closely acquainted with Murthys father. Spratt, born in 1902, was a member of the British Communist Party who was sent to India in 1926 to organise the working of the Communist Party of India (CPI). He had become a socialist after he graduated from Cambridge University. While in India, he was accused of involvement in the Meerut Conspiracy Case and arrested in 1929. In prison he gradually lost faith in communism.

He was released from prison in 1934. In 1939, he married Seetha, the grand-niece of Singaravelu Chetty, a founding member of the Communist Party in India. Spratt died in Madras on March 8, 1971.

Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed