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3 Famous AF Shops In Daryaganj That Are Selling Books By The Kilo, Y'All!

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Editors 6 Aug 2020

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There is no greater joy for a bibliophile than a day well spent in the midst of bookstores, grabbing the latest copy of your favourite author or just exploring new titles. If the smell of a new book or the musty scent of an old one (with doodles and scribbling on the margins) gets you all excited, then you know exactly what we're talking about. But sometimes, the price of these books leads to a massive dip in your wallet and that comes in between you and your next read. Well, it's time to stop gazing dreamingly at your bookshelf as we've found just the place you need to be!

The Daryaganj Sunday book market might just have everything that you were looking for, because here the price of the book takes a back seat, it’s the weight that matters. The crowded gallis brimming with piles and piles of best-sellers are naturally a tavern for all book-lovers. The best ones are the shops selling books per kilo. Yes, pick your books from a wide spectrum of options available; get them weighed at the counter and pay accordingly! The books are as cheap as Rs 100 per kilo and we've fallen in love all over again with this book bazaar.

We've covered 3 bookstores and here's what you can expect from them:

Big Book Bazaar

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Picture Credits: Badal Babu Bhattarai

Have you heard of a bookstore where instead of books being arranged by popularity, authors or even genre, they're stacked on the basis of their cost per kilo? Big Book Bazaar does exactly that. The shop mounts a whopping number of books segregated by their kilo rate tags hanging above them. Popular authors like John Grisham, Danielle Steel and even the entire series of Twilight and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo are on sale for Rs 100 a kilo. More popular names such as Dan Brown, Jeffrey Archer and the entire series of Fifty Shades of Grey are available at Rs 200 per kilo.

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What's more, the entire collection of Sherlock Holmes and William Shakespeare are also on sale for Rs 250 per set. You can, in turn, also pick coffee table books and English and Hindi dictionaries from here at Rs 200 a kilo. Just when you thought this shop couldn’t get any better, you’ll be greeted with a towering pile of registers, notebooks and really colourful stationery. From calculators, a pencil box to magnifying glasses, everything is available at just Rs 200 a kilo.

For 100 rupees you can also take home a kilo of registers, diaries, notepads, envelopes or just normal white printing paper. Unlike the pavement shops of Darya Ganj, this place is open seven days a week; so don’t forget to check this place out any day of the week!

Where | Big Book Bazaar - 3531 Netaji Subhash Marg
Call Them | +91 9899 765 660
Check Out Their FB Page | https://www.facebook.com/Big-Book-Bazar-Daryaganj-190859241245756/

Mukta Book Agency

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Picture Credits: Subash Sahni

Right next to the Big Book Bazaar stands Mukta Book Agency which, just like its contemporary, sells books by the kilo. As soon as you enter this shop, you’ll find all three sides jammed with a massive array of best-selling books at just Rs 100 per kilo. Dan Brown, Khaled Hosseini, Sidney Sheldon and the Twilight Series are popular items in this shop.

But don’t get swept off your feet right away as the main shop is on the first floor and the magic, well, it has just begun. The price per kilo takes a dip as soon as you enter this floor. Just to the right of the door, the best-selling books are available at Rs 50 a kilo. Though there's no guarantee of the sort of books you’ll find here and the famous authors are missing from this pile. Still, there is no limit to the wondrous reads you can discover from this heap.

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The sheer volume of classics at this shop for sure outshines the previous one. The titles range from Jane Austen’s works to Thomas Hardy to Shakespeare (well, of course!). There are a few things that make Mukta Book Agency stand out in the market. One such thing is this rack that has segregated books based on impressive titles. Wine, fishing, wildlife, planes and aircrafts and cars and bikes are some of the intriguing topics these books cover.

Another thing that's unique about this shop is its extremely valuable and exquisite collection of rare books available for Rs 400 per kilo right at the back of the shop. Most of these books are hardcover, first edition books that look straight out of some alchemist’s library. Wow!

Where | Mukta Book Agency - 3483, Netaji Subhash Marg
Call Them | +91 9313 472 353

Book Affair

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Picture Credits: Vivek Shahi

In our opinion, this place was the busiest and messiest of it all. All the best-selling books are available at Rs 100 to Rs 200 a kilo. But there's no particular manner in which they were arranged. Strewn all around the store in a disorderly manner, one had to struggle to find the books one desired. There is no shortage, however, of the innumerable books one can find in these stacks, ranging from Lee Child, Stephen King to Cecilia Ahern or Nicholas Sparks!

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In terms of age-old classics, at Rs 150 per book, one can get their hands on Homer, Rudyard Kipling, Arabian Nights, Kahlil Gibran and many works of Shakespeare (seriously, of course!). Both coffee table reads and world encyclopedia are pegged at Rs 200 per kg. In the middle of the shop lies a staggering pile of literature in Hindi. Sold at Rs 200 per kilo, this is the highlight of this shop as no other shop selling books by the kilo can boast of such a massive collection. The genre in Hindi literature is also vast as it covers Kabir’s works, Premchand, Chanakya Niti and lots more!

Where | Book Affair - 3531, Netaji Subhash Marg, Kucha Lal Man
Call Them | +91 9891 348 049

All you book maniacs, there you go. We hope you're now inspired to go do a little book hoarding yourself (we see you nodding!). Happy reading!

Here Are Some More Book-Laden Images:

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Picture Credits: theblurryfaced

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Picture Credits: raghwani_shubham

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Picture Credits: campusbloggers

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Picture Credits: hastag_lifestyle

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