'Deshbandhu' Chittaranjan Das by Jayantkumar Bhatt :: extremely rare biography (1925)

Born in 1870 in Calcutta, the great freedom fighter Chittaranjan Das was lovingly known as Deshbandhu. Das studied law in England but renounced his legal career during the non-cooperation movement against the British colonial government. When the Calcutta Municipal Corporation was formed, he became its first mayor. Chittaranjan Das was also a notable poet who wrote extensively in Bengali.

We are now pleased to offer one of the rarest biographies of Chittaranjan Das in Gujarati that was published a few months after his death. First published in November 1925, this biography was authored by Jayantkumar Manishankar Bhatt on the request of the great journalist and freedom fighter Amritlal D. Sheth, who was known as the 'Lion of Saurashtra'. The author Jayantkumar Bhatt was the son of the legendary Gujarati poet Kavi Kant.

The final section of this rare book includes the Gujarati translation of Deshbandhu's speeches followed by the Gujarati translation of his renowned poem in 39 verses — Sagar Sangeet — by the great legend Jhaverchand Meghani.

Several images of this precious rarity are attached herewith for the perusal of those interested.

DESHBANDHU

Author: Jayantkumar Manishankar Bhatt

Foreword by: Amritlal Dalpatbhai Sheth

Published by: Amritlal Dalpatbhai Sheth, November 1925 — Extremely Rare & Out-of-Print Antiquarian First Edition

Printed at: Saurashtra Mudranalaya, Ranpur

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: 21.9 cm x 15 cm

Pages: x + 200 pages + 7 plates of photographs

Condition: Pre-owned. Good+. Pages clean and unmarked. Binding tight and firm. Minor, natural yellowing/foxing/spotting of the pages owing to age. A select few pages have been neatly restored for future protection. Not more than 5 tiny wormholes, primarily in the first 55 pages. Sparse proofing marks in the last photographic plate; please refer to the last image attached herewith.

Remarks: Painstakingly sourced, this antiquarian First Edition is unimaginably rare and hard to find. First published in 1925, this great biography has faded into obscurity during the course of the last 100 years.

Surya Namaskars by Balasaheb Pant Pratinidhi (1928) :: rare First Edition

Born in 1868, Bhavanarao Shrinivasrao, popularly known as Balasaheb Pant Pratinidhi, was the ruler of the princely state of Aundh from 1909 until 1947. A passionate advocate of physical culture, his name is synonymous with the Surya Namaskar exercise. The sequence of twelve dynamic asanas known as Surya Namaskar was codified by Balasaheb Pant Pratinidhi, who was a devoted practitioner and proponent of this exercise.

In Balasaheb's perception, the Surya Namaskar in its entirety combined the physical postures along with the recitation of bija-mantras and Vedic hymns.

In the late 1920s, Balasaheb Pant Pratinidhi authored a pioneering book — Surya Namaskars — that delved into every aspect of this holistic exercise. Richly illustrated with several photographs of Balasaheb demonstrating the Surya Namaskar, this book was first published in Aundh in 1928 by Ramuanna K. Kirloskar, the co-founder of the house of Kirloskar Brothers who did 100 Surya Namaskars daily! In addition to this rare book, the year 1928 also witnessed the production of a silent film on Surya Namaskar by Balasaheb Pant Pratinidhi.

We are now pleased to offer the incredibly rare First Edition of Surya Namaskars. Enriched with several illustrative photographs and diagrams, this rare book also featured the Sanskrit text of the bija-mantras and the Vedic hymns associated with the Surya Namaskar practice.

Several images of this precious rarity, including the complete table of contents and the list of illustrations, are attached herewith for the perusal of those interested.

SURYA NAMASKARS

Author: Bhavanarao Shrinivasrao alias Balasaheb Pant Pratinidhi, Chief of Aundh
Published by: R. K. Kirloskar, Aundh, 1928 — Extremely Rare First Edition

Printed by: B. S. Purohit at the Aundh State Press

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

Size: 24.8 cm x 16.8 cm

Pages: vi + iv + 1 mounted frontispiece + 21 illustrative plates

Condition: Pre-owned. Very Good+. Pages clean, intact and unmarked. Binding tight and firm. Natural yellowing/foxing and minor spotting on some pages owing to age. Not more than 3 tiny pinholes in the first 11 pages only. Slight creasing on the bottom corner of 13 pages has been meticulously flattened/fortified with a small portion of unobtrusive, archival restoration tape. An 8.7 cm tear on one illustrative plate has been restored with archival restoration tape; please refer to the last image attached herewith.

Note on the binding: This First Edition was originally staple-bound, which invariably led to extensive rusting over the years. It was professionally thread-bound in Rexine hardcovers after carefully removing the heavily-rusted staples for ease of use and future protection.

Remarks: First published in 1928, this rare First Edition was unique in having random typographical errors in the text; these were largely corrected in the "Improved" Second Edition that was published the following year in 1929. Hence, this First Edition is unimaginably rare and hard to find.

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.