Ferose Velloparampil Rasheed
Two of my childhood passions—cricket and books—gave me my first collecting focus: putting together fifty of the greatest books on cricket in the most interesting editions. It has been a journey that has taken me from the by-lanes of Bengaluru’s secondhand bookshops to J.W. McKenzie Cricket Books in Surrey, England. My most recent find here is a charming edition of The Young Cricketer’s Tutor by John Nyren, which Neville Cardus, the poet of cricketing literature, called “the first great cricket classic.” It was first published in 1832, and the 1948 edition I bought has delightful wood engravings by the celebrated English engraver, John O’Connor, showing cricket as it was once played when the game was just being born.
I was born in Erattupetta (Kerala) and grew up in Kharagpur (West Bengal), and then moved to Bengaluru where my second collecting focus took root: assembling signed copies of my favorite modern Indian authors, from Naipaul to Rushdie to Roy. But what I really wanted to go after were the high spots; material signed by our most noted national figures—cultural and political—from the past and present. I have focused on collecting autograph material from the two Indian figures I admire the most: Gandhi and Tagore. Ironically, collectible antiquarian material related to India can be more easily found in rare bookstores in the U.K. and the U.S. than in India. For instance, when I finally tracked down (and bought) a book signed by Mahatma Gandhi, it was with a bookseller in New Jersey!
The Golden Book of Tagore: A Homage to Rabindranath Tagore from India and the World in Celebration of His Seventieth Birthday.
Edited by Ramananda Chatterjee.
Calcutta: The Golden Book Committee, 1931.
Limited to fifteen hundred copies.
Signed by Tagore.
A beautifully produced tribute to Tagore on his 70th birthday, with an engraved frontispiece portrait of Tagore (by Martin Vos), signed and dated by Tagore underneath his portrait. A facsimile note in Tagore’s hand is tipped into every copy, along with 29 engravings, including 11 tipped-in in full color with tissue guards. A fabulous and fitting tribute to one of India’s most soul-stirring poets; his Geetanjali has been one of my all-time favorites.
C.F. Andrews.
Mahatma Gandhi’s Ideas: Including Selections from his Writings.
New York: Macmillan, 1930.
Signed by Gandhi in Hindi.
This book was the first Gandhi signed memorabilia in my collection. After years of hunting for something signed by the Mahatma, I finally found this book and immediately bought it because Gandhi’s signature was in Hindi (he mostly signed in English). C. F. Andrews, a missionary to India, was affectionately dubbed ‘Christ’s Faithful Apostle’ by the Mahatma based on his initials. Andrews was a beloved English clergyman who contributed to India’s struggle for independence. In this book, Andrews brings together some of Gandhi’s most important writings.
Don Bradman.
Farewell to Cricket.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1950.
Signed First Edition by Donald Bradman.
As a cricket fan, no collection is complete without a book written by the greatest batsman of them all, Sir Donald Bradman. At a time when online commerce (like Amazon) did not exist, I had to travel all the way to London (and the famous JW McKenzie Bookstore in Surrey) to get my hands on some rare cricketing books. This signed copy is perhaps one of the most precious in my collection. Though I find Bradman’s writing style a bit dull here, I still think it a must for all cricket lovers.