LAHORE: In one of the older parts of the city is a modest little shop -- outwardly camouflaged by its simple appearance, but like the centuries old buildings that it is surrounded by, this shop too is like a time machine.

In fact Siddiqui’s rare and antique bookshop does not even have a proper signboard outside. Driving along Regal Chowk, one of the more crowded places in downtown Lahore, one can easily miss spotting the shop. Those who know about it are the ones who frequent it most, because what it offers is something close to what a museum displays.

‘Antique’ is the right word. Haroon Siddiqui, who is the owner of the shop is astute, businesslike and sharp, but at the same time he knows he is handling precious artifacts of lost times.

He potters around in shop’s upper floor (despite its crowded appearance, the shop has another floor and has numerous books on display), and produces something immeasurably exquisite: The Holy Bible, printed and published in pre-partition India. It is the oldest of his Urdu collection, and handling it with care he blows the dust off and opens each page carefully to confirm the publishing date. It is 1870, and each of the printed lines looks like it has been hand written.

“I had a Bible in Latin from 1741, but someone bought it,” he says. “I get a lot of very old books and sometimes I just keep them aside because I do not even know how old they are and their time period must be ascertained before I name their price.”

The Urdu collection is remarkable. Even for those born in the 1970s or 1980s, there are many magazines or publications that have not been seen since a very long time. For example any fan of A. Hameed’s works, including Amber Naag Maria series will be excited to see some of his original printed digests here.

For cinephiles there are magazines as old as the 1970s, especially Indian publications in English, including the Illustrated Weekly and Femina. But there are many copies of Uqaab and Soorat, which were published till the 1980s from Karachi. One awe inspiring collection is of the 1964 magazine of ‘Picture’, which was a Pakistani film magazine. It is not surprising therefore when Siddiqui announces that someone has already paid for it.

There are old newspapers too, bound and kept in good condition. For many people 1980 is not too long ago, but it was after all over 30 years ago. Urdu newspaper Mashriq has a bound collection from the same year.

It is interesting to see some of the headlines as well as an advertisement of appeal from the government, with General Ziaul Haq’s picture on it. The film pages in the paper are filled with advertisements of movies currently playing.

Siddiqui digs out a box of mixed magazines all about Z.A Bhutto. “Someone asked me to put them together and I’m still in the process of doing that.” Red and white pictures mark some of the magazine covers, but most are black and white. A dignified Bhutto stands with a regal posture of someone not yet subdued.

Aside from the Urdu literature, there are books in other languages too, English being the foremost. Reams of works of Lenin, Marx and Engels can be seen sitting patiently on their shelves waiting for the right person to buy them.

“The singer Jawad Ahmed is one of my valuable customers,” says Siddiqui. “He comes in usually to buy these books on socialism and communism. In fact some others also come to get these. As a matter of fact they are very popular.”

Classics are in abundance, but many of the books are not found in most new bookstores. Works of Graham Greene, T.S Eliot, D.H Lawrence and George Orwell can be seen. There is a whole collection of William Thackerey’s contributions to Punch magazine. There are short stories and novels printed in the 19th century, and some in the 20th century. These are in fact common to the bookshop. Most however are academic books, perhaps not applicable anymore but nevertheless a collector’s item. Some books though can still be used for academic purposes especially literary criticism, books on philosophy and history. Translations from Greek, German, Italian, Chinese and Russian too are available.

The deeper one digs in the shop, the more treasures are uncovered. There is a set of Works of Middleton published in 1884, but this is nothing.

Siddiqui also has a three-volume Latin book titled ‘Metamosphoseos OVIDII Continentur’ which was published in 1661, a book on ‘Punjabi Grammar’ from 1898, the very rare Children’s Encyclopedia by Arthur Mee.

‘A Study of History’ by Arnold Toynbee is an eight book set and five of those have the authors own signature on it. The oldest book in this section is again a Latin publication of 1574 titled ‘Historia = RVM, QVAE VENE”. Latin books in Lahore! Siddiqui admits not knowing what the books are about but presses on about their historical importance and value.

“My father was a simple old books seller. When I used to see him surrounded by them I used to tell him to get rid of them,” he confesses. “He told me, ‘when you will start to sell these books only then will you know the value of an old book.” Today he agrees with his father – who passed away a long time ago.

Even more fascinating though is some documents that Siddiqui has stumbled upon. He keeps his sources secret but says he has contacts abroad who send him things. Unwrapping a blue plastic bag he produces age old documents, from before partition, which have been carefully laminated now.

“To be honest I cannot understand the handwriting, but I can tell that these are ancient,” he says. “Some of them I believe are written in Persian.”

Most of the old books’ pages have grown thin and yellowed. Their spines are cracked now but the scent of things past hits hard when they are opened up, dust from their own paper swirling around.

“Readership has gone down over time,” says Siddiqui shaking his head. “I do not think in the near future many people will want to buy these books. But books are living things and I have become deeply attached to them. Sometimes I do not even feel like selling them. In any case if no one buys them, then I would be proud to call them my own.”

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2015

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