The secondhand book shops nestled away at one end of D.R.Wijewardene Mawatha in Colombo have been a favourite haunt for book lovers over the years. While book lovers are seen regularly rummaging through stacks of used books placed in every available corner of these shops, not many are aware that there is an interesting story about how this secondhand book business started nearly 60 years ago.
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| Business is down: A pensive Peter Appuhamy looks out for customers |
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| Sarath: Recalling the Premadasa days. Pix by Saman Kariyawasam |
The story begins with the resourcefulness of one man, Premadasa Weerarathna, who, after he was left disabled while serving in the Royal Navy, chose to start a secondhand book business, instead of living a life of solitude after his accident. Today it is his relatives who carry on the business since Premadasa passed away in the mid-1980s but they still remember him endearingly when asked about how they began selling books.
Peter Appuhamy (65) began helping out his uncle Premadasa while still a schoolboy. “ He started the shop near the railway station in Maradana around 1953 but had to shift to this place in 1976 when a lot of new construction began in view of the Non Aligned Summit (NAM) that was held in Colombo,” Appuhamy who now counts more than 40 years in the business said. Sarath S. Thewarahennadi, another nephew of the secondhand bookshop founder said his uncle who hailed from Koggala had joined the Royal Navy in his younger days and while serving in Trincomalee had been injured in a gas canister explosion.“He lost one leg in the explosion as well as the use of an arm. He was medically condemned but paid a pension by the Royal Navy,” Sarath said.
But Premadasa was not one to allow his injuries to keep him down for long. Having observed the British officers reading books and magazines in the Mess, he had thought of collecting old reading material and selling them to locals. “He started out by selling old copies of the Reader’s Digest around 1953 and soon the business got brisk. He had many people in Colombo coming to buy the magazines. From there on he expanded the business by buying used books, which he in turn either resold or lent for a fee,” Sarath recalled.
Mahinda Sama-rasinghe, a book enthusiast who has been patronizing Premadasa’s bookshop since the time it was located in Maradana recalled how he was drawn to the bookshop as he could borrow a book at Rs 2.50 , read it in a few days and return it and get Rs 2.25 back.“I was a fan of James Hadley Chase’s books and there were many copies of these available. Books were a big draw for people those days,” he said.
However, now the number of people reading books is on the decline, says Peter Appuhamy. “Books are expensive and people also have television and computers to distract them. Those days even at 9 in the night people would not leave the shop and we had to sometimes force them out as we wanted to go to the cinema for the late night show,” he said.
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Premadasa Weerarathna:
His disability didn’t stop him back then |
P.G.S. Priyanka has been running the business, which he inherited from his father, for nearly 25 years. He is not related to Premadasa but he, along with several others, who were inspired by the veteran secondhand book seller, too set up book shops and joined the trade.“We cannot make a big profit by selling secondhand books anymore because not many people buy books. These days, people can look for books they need on the internet and order them so we no longer attract that many people,” he said.
The books that are most sought after these days are educational books by students as they can be purchased at nearly half the price at the secondhand book shops, he added.
Peter Appuhamy rattles off a long list of authors who were much in demand in the 60s and 70s ranging from Barbra Cartland to Somerset Maugham and Harold Robbins to Guy Du Maupassant. “I learnt a lot from the people who came to our shops. Many were very learned people and just talking to them helped me to learn about authors and books,” he said.
Many of the book sellers are worried that the shops will not survive as not many in their families have shown much interest in the business. “You have to be fond of books and also be knowledgeable about them to run a shop. It also means putting in long hours of work,” bookshop owner Priyanka said. |
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