EAP127/1/1

This sub-fonds consists of 467 books digitised as part of the EAP127 project. The original material forms the School of Cultural Texts and Records' core collection of Popular Market Bengali Books, and was almost wholly acquired within Kokata, through:

a) spot purchases from pavement stalls, fairs, and hawkers in and around Kolkata;

b) planned purchasing trips to the publishers and distributors in the College Street and Sealdah area of central Kolkata;

c) donations. The sources of early donations were not recorded; however, the collection is known to hold materials donated by Arun Ghosh, Gautam Mitra, Sukanta Chaudhuri and Samantak Das.

The original material dates from 1870-2005; however much of it is undated.

The collection covers the full range of 'popular market' Bengali books including: manuals of worship and religious rites; popular literature, including ghost stories and detective novels; joke books; song books; puzzle books; language guides and primers; books of magic; folklore; poetry; recipe books and books of household tips; Islamic kissa books; comics and illustrated novels; translations of Western popular classics.

The following publishers are represented in the collection: adhunik pustak prakashan; Akshyay Library; Ali Hossen; amarendra nath das; Amit Pocket Books; annapurna prakashani; bacchu kansa banik; benimadhab sil's library; bholananth pustak bhandar; bhupati kumar panjadas; chandicharano dateas and co.; Chariyat International; chaturbhuj pustakalay; Das Brothers; deb shitya kutir Private Ltd; Delite Publication; Dishari; Educational Publishers; General Library and Press; Gita Publishing House; gobinda das; Gyan Ganga and Company; Hira Productions; India Trading Company; janata prakashani; jyotsna das; kaibta ghar; M G Publications; manarandan saha; manik kumar haldar; md. jamin ali khan; mohhamad shamsuddin; mollah mohammad sardar; Nataraj Book Agency; neyamat ali laskar; nibid kumar ray; Nirmal Book Agency; Orient Library; Osmania Library; Rajendra Library; Raju Sachdeb Publications; sabitri prakashani; sachdeb prakashan; sajal pustakalay; samarkumar mukherjee; sandhanchandra saha; Sandhya International; Sonalisa Book House; Sriguru Trading; srikumar pathak; sukumar bandyopadhyay; tapan pustakalay; Tara Library; yunun ali gazi.