As A child I SO wanted to join this bookclub.

Preserving Punjab’s history for future generations

Reference library a storehouse of old manuscripts, books

At a time when historical manuscripts have become a treasured part of the country’s heritage, here is a reference library in the city which houses many of these antiques. From a 1796 copy of the Guru Granth Sahib to the books of English grammar and the economic history of Punjab published in 1890, the library, located at Punjabi Bhawan, also has many manuscripts of religious tomes and books containing the popular Punjabi ‘kissas’ of Heer-Ranjha, Sassi Pannu and Sohni Mehiwal.

Set up in 1995 by the Punjabi Sahit Academy, this library has become a haunt for research scholars engaged in graduate and doctoral studies in India as well as abroad. Said Prem Singh Bajaj, the principal: We’ve over 100 books which are more than 100 years old, which have been printed through litho printing. There are also about 50 manuscripts of religious and well-known Punjabi ‘kissas’. All these have been donated to us through book lovers and their families. These books are like an old man in a joint family who gets due respect and care. And of course we are taking care of these priceless manuscripts and books."

”I’ve proposed to the Academy to prepare a plan for preserving these books through the latest techniques for the benefit of future generations”, he added.

read more :http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110730/ldh1.htm#9

Further financial (and literal) house cleaning.....

Okay, so the basement reconstruction is done and I now have a lovely light airy non-musty library/den. While it did not previously look as bad as the pic above before construction started, it was close! Working in Libraries and books stores for over 27 years does not let you escape unscathed without an unnecessarily large personal collection.

So they've been thinned, thinned again and thinned once more. I am keeping the authors I cannot live without, the valuable first editions and the cookbooks that I read like candy. All the rest have been input into Amazon.com for sale. If you are shopping there keep an eye out for used options among the quality goods of AVbooks.....

If anyone is interested I also offer an antiquarian and hard to find used book search service.....Just drop me an email.

Well, today is my last 10 hour day in a string of 23 ten hour days catering for Harvard's Summer conferences. Tomorrow is my first full weekend off o=in a loooooooong time! Blissfully I can sleep past 4:00 am tomorrow as I won't have to be at Harvard by 6:00!

Now I have the joy of facing the dreaded basement remodeling that wills tart in August, i.e the joy of cleaning out 10 years of accumulated crap thus allowing the contractors access to the space that needs to be remodeled! I am way to much of a pack rat and working in bookstores and libraries for over 25 years has allowed me to collect way to many old books that I will probably never read again but cannot bear to throw away. Anyone in need/want of some vintage Americana titles let me know!