Barindra Kumar Ghosh :: in memoriam

Born in 1880 in England, the firebrand revolutionary Barindra Kumar Ghosh was the younger brother of Sri Aurobindo. Barindra Ghosh believed in armed militancy against the British Raj. He was sentenced to death in the Alipore Bomb Case, which was later commuted to life imprisonment in the Cellular Jail in Andaman. Under the terms of a general amnesty in 1920, Barindra Ghosh was released from Cellular Jail, following which he devoted himself to writing and journalism.

Barindra Ghosh's memoirs were first published in Bengali in 1922, and the Gujarati translation appeared the very next year in 1923. We are now pleased to offer an extremely rare and obscure First Edition in Gujarati of Barindra Ghosh's memoirs. First published in 1923 in Gujarati, this is one of the rarest books in the realm of revolutionary literature in Gujarati. It was published in Surat by the Vimawala brothers — Ishwarlal Vimawala & his younger brother Natwarlal — who were devoted to the cause of Indian independence and established the renowned Gandiv Sahitya Mandir publishing house in Surat. Natwarlal Vimawala participated in the Bardoli Satyagraha in his youth and went on to become one of the most notable authors of children's literature in Gujarati.

An intriguing aspect of the Gujarati edition of Barindra Ghosh's memoirs was the identity of the translator that was conspicuously left out in this book. Which begs the question — who translated this book into Gujarati shortly after it was first published in Bengali? And why was the translator's name not printed in the Gujarati edition?

This leads us to one of the most fascinating personages of the Indian freedom struggle — Narsinhbhai Patel. Born in 1874 in Gujarat, Narsinhbhai was a radical revolutionary who learnt Bengali in his youth and had been translating proscribed Bengali literature into Gujarati. He was known to empathise with both Aurobindo as well as Barindra Ghosh, having translated their treasonable writings into Gujarati which were banned by the British government. One of his most notorious translations from Bengali into Gujarati was a bomb-making manual by Barindra Ghosh. The Criminal Investigation Department of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency considered Narsinhbhai Patel "the most dangerous man" in the Bombay Presidency. In the early 1920s, Narsinhbhai was working as a teacher in Shantiniketan, which is when Barindra Ghosh's memoirs were first published in Bengali.

To the best of our knowledge, there is no published account of the mystery translator of this rare book. However, in light of the above-mentioned facts, it is logically plausible to believe that Narsinhbhai Patel would have been the translator of Barindra Ghosh's memoirs. His name would have been deliberately excluded to ensure the unimpeded circulation of this book in the Bombay Presidency in 1923.

In this Gujarati First Edition, the text of Barindra Ghosh's memoirs was preceded by Dwijendralal Roy's song — Banga Amar, Janani Amar. The final 54 pages contain biographical sketches of some of the protagonists of the revolutionary movement in Bengal including Barindra Ghosh, Upendranath Bannerjee, Ullaskar Dutta, Jatindra Mukherjee (aka Bagha Jatin) and Rashbehari Bose. Also included are essays on the revolutionary literature of Bengal, Anushilan Samiti, and Maniktola Ashram (excerpted from Upendranath Banerjee's autobiography).

Several images of this antiquarian First Edition are attached herewith for the perusal of those interested.

BOMBYUG-NU BANGALA

Author: Barindra Kumar Ghosh

Translated from Bengali into Gujarati by: Translator's name was not printed in this book; most probably translated by Narsinhbhai Patel, please refer to the description above.

Published by: Natwarlal M. Vimawala for Gandiv Sahitya Mandir, Surat, 1923 AD (Vikram Samvat 1979) — Extremely Rare & Out-of-Print, Antiquarian First Edition of 2000 copies

Printed by: Ishwarlal M. Vimawala at Gandiv Mudranalaya, Surat

Language: Gujarati

Format: Hardcover. Professionally bound in black Rexine with the titles debossed in golden lettering on the front cover and on the spine.

Size: 17.1 cm x 12.3 cm

Pages: viii + 200 pages + 1 frontispiece on glossy paper

Condition: Pre-Owned. Excellent — Near Pristine. Pages clean and unmarked. Binding tight and firm. Minor, natural yellowing/foxing of the pages owing to age. Not more than two tiny wormholes near the upper margin.

Remarks: Sourced with great difficulty, the value of this particular book lies in its utmost rarity for being the First Antiquarian Edition in Gujarati published in 1923 in excellent condition. This was the very first book that was published in the Gandiv Sahitya Vatika series in 1923; please refer to the title page attached herewith. The First Edition details in this book are followed by three numbers — 2000, 1979 and 1923 — that denote the print run (2000 copies), the Vikram Samvat year (VS 1979) and the English calendar year (1923 AD) respectively; image attached.

Please email us on kumarclassicbookpoint@gmail.com for cost and availability, or for any further queries in order to serve you better. Delivery in Mumbai is free.

Pins and Needles (1950s) :: vintage needlecraft collection

For those interested in handicrafts, we are pleased to offer a vintage collection of one of the finest journals on needlecraft — Pins and Needles.

Originally published in England, Pins and Needles was the labour of love of its founder–editor Christine Veasey. The collection that we are offering includes 23 vintage back issues of the 1950s spread across two handsome volumes bound in grey cloth with a Rexine spine.

These 23 rare journals contain a total of 1200 pages that are replete with illustrated write-ups on knitting, crotchet, braidwork, lace-work, tatting, felt-work and a lot more. These back issues also contain numerous vintage advertisements of the time.

The complete details are mentioned below, and several images of these beautiful rarities are attached herewith for the perusal of those interested. 

PINS AND NEEDLES — 2 bound volumes containing a total of 23 vintage back issues

Editor: Christine Veasey

Published by: Christine Veasey Publications Limited, London, 1954–57  — Highly Rare, Original First Editions

Printed by: Sun Printers Limited, London & Watford

Issue no. 8 published by: Kemsley Newspapers Limited, London, Autumn 1951 — Extremely Rare, Original First Edition

Issue no. 8 printed by: Withy Grove Press Limited, Manchester

Format: Softcover journals that are professionally bound in grey cloth hardcovers with a black Rexine spine; the title is debossed in golden lettering on the spine.

Size of each bound volume: 27.3 cm x 22.1 cm — These are large-sized, heavy tomes.

Total weight of both the volumes: 3.4 kg.

Back Issues in the 1st volume: No. 8 (Autumn 1951); no. 17 (May 1954); nos. 27–28 (Mar.–Apr. 1955); nos. 35–36 (Nov.-Dec. 1955); nos. 37–42 (Jan.–Jun. 1956)

Pages in the 1st volume (12 back issues): 604 pages

Back Issues in the 2nd volume: Nos. 44–45 (Aug.–Sep. 1956); nos. 47–48 (Nov.–Dec. 1956); nos. 49–55 (Jan.–Jul. 1957)

Pages in the 2nd volume (11 back issues): 596 pages

Condition: Pre-owned. Very Good+ — Excellent. Pages clean and intact. Binding tight and firm. Minor, natural yellowing/foxing of some pages owing to age. Minor shelf-wear to the corners/edges of the covers of a few back issues.

Remarks: This collection includes the eighth issue, which is one of the earliest and an extremely rare back issue from the autumn of 1951, this particular issue was published by Kemsley Newspapers in London. In the following years, Christine Veasey would take complete control of this journal and it was then brought out by her own publishing enterprise — Christine Veasey Publications Ltd.

Please email us on kumarclassicbookpoint@gmail.com for cost and availability, or for any further queries in order to serve you better. Delivery in Mumbai is free.