Ramchandra Sapre on Chess :: rare First Edition in Marathi

Born in 1915 in Akola, Ramchandra Sapre was one of the greatest minds in the history of Indian chess. In 1955, he became the first National Chess Champion of India (along with Darbha Venkayya).

Armed with acute analytical skills, Sapre used to send his analyses of international games regularly to Russian chess magazines. As a result, in 1954, a year before he became India's first National Chess Champion, he was invited to Moscow for the World Championship match between Smyslov & Botvinnik. At the time, this was an extraordinary honour for an Indian chess player.

We are now pleased to offer an extraordinarily rare First Edition of his book on chess (known as बुद्धिबळ in Marathi) — Buddhibale Kashi Khedaavi — in Marathi. First published in 1961, this rare primer on chess was authored by Ramchandra Sapre with assistance from Tukaram Kokje, who was the editor of the Marathi newspaper Loksatta. In his preface, Kokje acknowledged that the lion's share of this book was conceived by Ramchandra Sapre. In his own words, Kokje's role was limited to "putting pen to paper".

This rare First Edition was published by V. R. Bam, an artist who was the proprietor of the now-defunct Ramkrishna Book Depot in Mumbai. Bam was well-respected in the artistic & literary milieu of Bombay in the 1950s & 60s. In his memoirs, the great artist S. H. Raza fondly remembered V. R. Bam, "who was running the Ramkrishna Book Depot in Girgaon, an extraordinarily intelligent man, well-versed in the problems of art...".

The strikingly attractive cover and the illustrations in this rare First Edition were designed by Vishwas Yande, an artist who used to work as a peon in the JJ School of Art in the 1940s. In 1946, when the 22-year old VS Gaitonde was about to destroy a large body of his work, Yande requested Gaitonde to give those works to him instead. In this way, Yande was responsible for rescuing and possessing a unique collection of art from Gaitonde's youth. Over time, Yande himself enrolled as a student at the JJ School of Art and went on to teach drawing at the school.

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

BUDDHIBALE KASHI KHEDAAVI

Authors: R. B. Sapre & T. S. Kokje

Cover Art & Illustrations by: Vishwas Yande

Published by: V. R. Bam for Ramkrishna Book Depot, Mumbai, 1961 — Extremely Rare & Out-of-Print First Edition

Printed by: N. A. Mehendale at Jeevan Mudranalaya, Pune

Language: Marathi

Format: Hardcover with dust jacket

Size: 16 cm x 12.5 cm

Pages: 71 pages

Condition of the book: Pre-Owned. Excellent — Near Pristine. Pages clean and unmarked. Original tight binding. Slight, natural yellowing/foxing of the pages owing to age. This book was covered in Kraft paper by the original owner, the blank endpapers bear a residual impression of the tape marks; please refer to the last image attached herewith.

Condition of the dust jacket: Excellent — Near Pristine. The original dust jacket is completely intact. Negligible shelf-wear near the corners/edges. The dust jacket of this book was non-removable i.e. the flaps of the dust jacket were affixed to the hard covers. The covers are neatly wrapped in an acetate film for future protection.

Stamp: The date & year of publication was rubber-stamped on the front endpaper; please refer to the last image attached herewith.

Remarks: Painstakingly sourced, this is one of the rarest and most elusive books on chess in any Indian language. It is rather unheard of and is extremely hard to find, let alone in such exemplary condition as the one we are offering now.

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.

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.