A work on English artists from 1879, a copy of the Holy Bible printed in 1560 and Royal Tour in India by Stanley Reed, which saw the light in 1906, issues of Needlecraft, a home and family magazine from 1930, a book from 1922 which deals with Moghul paintings and Photographic Views in Madurai (1858) by Captain L Tripe—these were some of the antiquarian books on display at the Connemara Public Library in Egmore, Chennai as part of an exhibition of rare books.
Organised in commemoration of World Book Day, the exhibition throws light on the history and culture of ancient and medieval India and other countries. Over 150 books were showcased.
The exhibition also had books in Tamil, which include those covering the topics of Vedic astrology and Tamil grammar. Around 50 books were in other languages, including Latin, German, French and Japanese. ‘The Report of The Education Commission, a work from 1888, is believed to be found only in four institutions—IIT-Madras, Delhi Secretariat and National Library of India in Kolkata and at Connemara Public Library in Egmore,’ says M Ganesh, Assistant Librarian.
There were also records of meteorological observations made in 1894 from different stations in India; a 1909 catalogue of coins in the Phayre Provincial Museum and a 1906 monograph of stonecarving and inlaying in the then Bombay Presidency.
‘Books, especially the old ones, are prone to damage by silverfish. Transparent chiffon material from Kashmir has been used to laminate the pages of these centuries-old works. This kind of preservation was in practice before digitisation,’ adds Ganesh, a conservationist at heart.