Dasgupta and Company Pvt. Ltd.

The Heritage Plaque being displayed



  • Das Gupta and Company was founded by Girish Chandra Das Gupta in 1886, a resident of Kalia in Jessore (Bangladesh). 
  • This is the oldest book shop in College street, an erstwhile area of Kolkata, known to cater to the Bengali intelligentsia. 
  • The bookshop mainly operates from the ground floor with the first floor being used for storage. A winding metal staircase leads to the top floor. 
  • Books in English and vernacular languages are sold. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has given identified this institution as a Grade II heritage structure. 
  • Shri Arabinda Dasgupta, a septuagenarian, is the managing director here, who runs his family business. According to him, the shop, which also has an impressive collection of literary works apart from academic titles, attracts about 400 customers a day. In his words “We are the only bookshop from that time whose ownership hasn’t changed. It remains with the same family. We have survived two World Wars, we have seen the Independence movement, and we have lived through the Naxal movement — College Street was a hotbed of that movement for three to four years. We will also survive Amazon. If a particular book is not available, a traditional bookshop can suggest alternative titles — something Amazon can’t.” 
  • The shop will house a mini-auditorium for book launches and an archive space with a free reading library soon.
  • The staff here are extremely helpful and cordial. A perfect place for bibliophiles, this place resonates with an old world charm and intellectual ambience.
Date of visit: 04.03.2024

 References:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kolkata/kolkatas-oldest-bookshop-to-turn-part-of-premises-into-free-library/article67071442.ece

 

https://www.telegraphindia.com/my-kolkata/news/das-gupta-and-company-137-year-old-bookshop-will-house-mini-auditorium-for-book-launches/cid/1952121

 


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