A Boon Christened Book

Alluding to a good book, Emerson wrote that “if a man wrote a better book, preach a better sermon, or made a mouse-trap better than his neighbour, the world would make beaten path to his door, even if he built his house in the woods.” This truly applies to the now famous Patna Book Fair thronged by the multitude. For organising the next Fair during 1-15 December, 1996 some Patnaites like NK Jha, Uttam Kumar Singh etc. have taken special pains and made tireless efforts. This time, even against heavy odds, the plan of the Fair has been tastefully laid out to offer maximum facilities to the sellers, buyers and visitors.
It is said that the judicious King George I of England, while gifting a library to the Cambridge University, had chosen to send a troop of horses to the Oxford University. The rationale behind the king’s decision was that while a learned body wanted loyalty, a loyal body wanted learning. Readers may find the following epigram by Joseph Trapp interesting in the context of the historic event :

“The king, observing with judicious eyes, The state of both his universities, To Oxford sent a troop of horse, and why? That learned body wanted loyalty; To Cambridge books, as very well discerning, How much that loyal body wanted learning.”
So also quotable is the befitting reply to the above by Sir Wiliam Browne :
“The king to Oxford sent a troop of horse, For Tories own no argument but force; With equal skill to Cambridge books he sent, For Whigs* admit no force but argument.”

• members of British Conservative Party, considered reactionary; ** members of British political party that preceded the Liberal Party.
  In effect, every book is like a lamp-post that cannot withstand an area of darkness around it. The book is a symbol, an unambiguous manifestation, of the power of pen. It has the propensity to become the strongest social weapon. And the power of pen ensues from the intellect which in turn is bestowed by the Power Supreme – not to say of protestations of atheists against this view. Sometimes, some content of a book may kindle that special intellect in a prospective writer or poet who then engages himself in the expression of his thoughts through prose or poetry. In fact, it has happened with me as a few bits and pieces of Bachchan’s and Dinkar’s poetry suddenly helped sprout in me an enthusiasm to compose poetry myself. It is aptly said that where the thoughts in the original coincide with the translator’s, the ensuing translation is bound to appear genuine. As for me, I started with the composition of original poems but the first to be published were my translations of Gita, Durgasaptashati and a part of Bhagwat-puran respectively. My original poetic compositions on spiritual and social themes are in the pipeline for publication. I feel that the thoughts expressed in any poem are seldom alien to those who appreciate it, the only over-riding factor being that a non-poet somehow cannot express likewise.
  Returning to the power of pen, there is no gainsaying the fact that the society at large has now reached such cross-roads where only two kinds of power in unison can provide the beacon light to guide the society on to the path of progress lined with morality and the spirit of happiness and prosperity to one-and-all. One is the power of pen, and the other is the enlightened Youth Power. The first will have to guide the second having immense untapped potentialities proved more than once in the past not only in India but in the areas abroad. Herein lies the relevance of literature which is contained in and spread through the books that not only reflect the pleasures and pains of the society but also serve to alleviate the latter.
  A book essentially represents the inner niches of the intellect of the writer or poet. Almost spontaneous expression of impressive thoughts brought out in the form of books have earned a place of pride to luminaries like Tulsidas, Shakespeare, Burtrend Russel, Dr Radhakrishnan, Tagore, to name a few out of a multitude, in the history of literature and books. Even though an author is only a medium, a mere tool in the hands of the Almighty, the following lines of George Gordon Byron illustrate the feeling of a writer in regard to his work:
  ” ‘Tis pleasant, sure, to see one’s name in print, A book is a book, although there’s nothing in it.”
  To an author, his book is like his offspring. An author’s weakness for his books is, therefore, understandable. Benjamin Desraeli had once said that an author ‘who speaks about his own books is almost as bad as a mother who talks about her own child.’ A conceited author alone may have the audacity to say, ‘I never read books, I write them.’ In any case, an author can never remain detached from his work. Our heart moves as we ponder over the import of the following lines of Belloc, depicting an author’s wish:
  “When I am dead, I hope it may be said; His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.”
  A good book is undoubtedly a boon to its author as well as to its readers. Like the soul, a book is indestructible, just as memory cannot be obliterated. Authors die but their books remain alive to posterity. The importance of good books can hardly be over-emphasised. It was Samuel Johnson who said, “I cannot see that lectures can do so much good as reading the books from which lectures are taken.” For everybody, even though books and friends should be few and good, no other possession is as good as a good book, and no decoration piece is as charming as a book. Sydney Smith had only stated a heart-felt perception when he said that ‘no funiture was as charming as books.’ Books are indeed the breeding places of delicacies to savour for quenching intellectual thirst. They replenish the intellect, as it were. A book in itself means nothing unless it is read. As the adage goes, a book that is shut is but a block. And it is seldom that a good book is kept shut. A book is worth buying only if it is worth reading. As John Milton wrote: “A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, enhanced and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.” It must have been in the context of good and bad books that Francis Bacon felt forced to make the comment that some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. In the enormity of quantity, the quality is bound to suffer also in the case of books. A response to a bad book is amply borne out by the proverb: ‘Of making many books, there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.’
  So far as the state of Bihar in general, and its capital city of Patna in particular are concerned, a silver lining is discernible in that, despite comparatively lower literacy-rate, per-capita income and the like, there is a sizeable population which enjoys buying and reading books as a pastime. It is heartening to note that newspapers and periodicals published even from outside Bihar have a large clientele in the state of Bihar. And as for the Books, the experiences at the Patna Book Fair bear out the fact that people in Bihar prefer to buy books than squander money in so many other alternative perishable luxuries.
  A good book may not be commercially profitable too, as in the words of Thomas Fuller, ‘learning hath gained most by those books by which the printers have lost.’ The best return to the writer of a good book lies in his completing it; readership, appreciations and financial gains are merely the bonus-items. There have been many cases where a book first published did not find favour with either the buyers or readers but with passage of time, it caught everybody’s imagination and thus brought fortunes to the parties concerned. It will be interesting to describe the experience of Edward FiltzGerald’s translation of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyats. Omar Khayyam had composed his now famous Rubaiyats in Persian in the twelfth century. In the middle of the nineteenth century, an old manuscript of the same consisting of 158 Rubaiyats was discovered in a library at Oxford, followed by another manuscript containing 516 Rubaiyats from the Asiatic Society, and handed down to Fitzgerald who took pains to translate seventy-five out of the 674 into English. Fitzgerald’s work is now considered perfect, having outlived the scanning eyes of critics over several decades. But the first editor had not found it worthy of publication even after keeping the manuscript for two years. In the first edition that was brought out in 1859, only 250 copies were printed, each priced at a mere penny akin to a 25-paise coin of the present day. There were hardly any buyers and the publishers had to suffer losses. For all we know, the leaves of the book might then have been used as wrapping paper for sale of ground-nuts. In the work, however, a couple of connoisseurs found a lotus in the mud. The proud owner, if any, of a copy of that wasted edition that was then available for a pittance, can become a millionnaire simply by putting the possession, having now a historical vintage, to auction. Eventually, as the book was republished four times in the nineteenth century, it not only got a roaring response of the readership but did roaring business. The noted Indian poet, Harivansh Rai Bachchan picked up the thread and translated the seventy-five stanzas of the Fizerald’s English translation in the mid-thirties into rhymed Hindi poems entitled ‘Khayyam Ki Madhushala’ which has been appreciated by all for its excellence as it does not read like a translation.
  The author, publisher, printer and the bookseller are essentially the parties to a book. The production of a book is akin to the birth of child. As such, there is naturally the pain of labour. Aldous Huxley has said that ‘a bad book is as much labour to write as a good book, because it comes as sincerely from the author’s soul.’ The gift of spontaneity notwithstanding, an author whether of fact or fiction has to rehearse, even if momentarily, what he is going to put down in black and white. In many cases, a writer may have to spend more time in reading than writing. An author, said Samuel Johnson, will turn over half a library to make one book. The publishers and printers have been in none too unenviable situation as they cannot escape the torments of market forces. Considerable hike in the prices of paper has added to the travails of all including the buyers. In the recent times, the Book-trade has, therefore, had to steer through difficult straits. Lower prices of books would certainly have helped their spread with a faster pace. Be it as it may, the high prices might have dampened the spirits but have hardly stood between the books and readers. No man will buy even a low-priced book unless he has an intention to read it. Review of books is also an important aspect as it provides the input of an urge to read them. Making objective review of books is, therefore, a social service of considerable importance which the Reviewers perform. They cannot afford to agree with Sydney Smith who said that, for fear of being prejudiced, he never read a book before reviewin it. They must call a spade a spade most dispassionately.
  Based on the responses to the Patna Book Fair, Bihar can boast of an enthusiastic readership. But yet there is no reason for complacency. I have seen from my own experience that very few people read a book given to them free. The least one can do is to read a book presented to him by the author or the publisher. On the other hand, if anyone takes the pain of buying a book, he would as well take the pain of reading it. Borrowed books are seldom returned, which is a subtle but sure way to prevent a book benefitting other readers.
  It may not be out of plce to allude to a few undesirable trends vis-a-vis books. Borrowing a book and then withholding its repatriation to the owner is a bane. Charles Lamb correctly described the borrowers of books as mutilators of collections, spoilers of the symmetry of shelves, and creators of old volumes. Another aspect is the printing errors. Because of accentuated attention to proof-reading, printing errors are few and far between in the books brought out by noted publishers. But printers’ devils manifest themselves in the the books of many. We can hardly subscribe to Goldsmith saying that ‘a book may be amusing with numerous errors, or it may be dull without a single absurdity.’
  In the end, here I quote below an Odes to th Old by W. B. Yeats in regard to the reading of books:
  “When you are old and grey and full of sleep, And, nothing by the fire, take down this book; And slowly read, and dream of the soft look, Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep.”
  There is yet another Ode to the Child by Belloc on the same theme: “Child! do not throw this book about, Refrain from the unholy pleasure; Of cutting all the pictures out! Preserve it as your chiefest treasure.”

Writer- Ram Updesh Singh ‘Videh’