McCallum street is one of my favorite places in Colombo. I’m not even sure it’s called McCallum street, but it’s great. At the end of Darley Road there’s a row of used bookshops. They have a lot of nothing, but also a lot of gems. Old and new magazines for example, and a lot of surprising books. Yesterday I got Juche Art, printed in North Korea, a history of the toilet and water closets, a bluffer’s guide to consulting, some short stories by Satyajit Ray and some other stuff. Oh, an issue of Ceylon Today from 1956. It’s pretty sweet.
McCallum Road the way i heard it, but i think the official name is changed. can even borrow books from these places. and yes, great deals.
Senanayake’s in Wella, another great place
Yep, it’s McCallum Road, official name being D.R. Wijewardene MW, but who in their sane minds use these winded up names when the old names are much easier to remember and say!
Getting to the point, I’ve been to these bookshops a number of times, Peter’s to be more precise. He’s got a great range of books, including some really good Sidney Sheldon books. Also has a large number of old magazines which are great to read. The rental is a real bargain! Got about 3 books when I was in hospital and it was a real delight to read them.
They really are a bunch of life savers! :)
The guys at these places are NOTHING like the sales people that you get at Vijitha Yapa and Sarasavi books shops. These people are the true connoisseurs of the written word. They have plenty of time to talk to the customers and you can actually see the gleam in their eyes when they talk to you about the rare books.
it is marked on a map here:
http://cerno.wordpress.com/2007/06/01/used-book-hunting-in-colombo/
good to hear that after 20 plus years and somethings haven’t changed. back in the day I use to buy-exchange books at least twice a month. it used to be the place for imported nudie mags too but you had to talk the lingo to get the seller to show them.
So true! Those sales people in bookshops consider the customer a nuisance and are so off handed when you ask something. Either they are uneducated about what they are supposed to be selling (which then is the employers fault to an extent) or they just cant be bothered and wants to give the quickest reply and get rid of the customer.
Barefoot has a old guy as of recent, who seems to have all the time in the world to talk about books. Refreshing, but can be a bit of a bore, when trying to decide on the book you want to get.
there are mnay used books online and the price is cheap too but i wonder if the quality of it is good ;:-
Are they still there? Used to spend hours browsing these stalls in the 70’s! Like heaven!