Tagore's own institution neglects printing his books; many popular titles out of circulation
Many of Rabindranath Tagore's books appear neglected by the publishing arm of his own institution, Visva-Bharati, with numerous titles under his authorship, including the flagship 18-volume Rabindra Rachanabali, being out of print for over a year now.
With the aesthetically printed university-published titles missing from the market, private players are profiting from the neglect by selling their own versions.
'A book like Gora is not available. A book like Sanchayita is not available. This is unbelievable, totally unbelievable!' eminent educationist-writer Chinmoy Guha, professor emeritus of University of Calcutta and former Vice-Chancellor of Rabindra Bharati told The Hindu.
'It looks like Visva-Bharati officials are not even aware of their books not being in the market. Nobody is talking about it. Even books like Chokher Bali, Chhelebela, Char Adhyay, Jogajog are not to be found. These are all part of our heritage — such beautifully printed books. Nobody seems to be noticing they are missing,' Prof. Guha said.
Visva-Bharati set up its publishing arm, Granthan Vibhaga, in 1923, mainly to print Tagore's major works and circulate his ideas and literature across the globe. The department is currently based in Kolkata and until recently had two outlets in the city: one on College Street and another on Bidhan Sarani, which closed down in 2022.
'Major works out of print include Sanchayita and Sishu. Important textbooks like the full set of Sahaj Path have not been published regularly, resulting in huge loss of revenue over the last one year. The full set of his biography Rabindra Jibani is out of print as are several volumes of Swara Bitan, something so essential for Rabindra Sangeet practitioners,' said a source in Visva-Bharati.
'All this has led to private publishers gradually taking over the profitable space that Granthan Vibhaga once occupied. There is also a clear lack of sales strategy. A few years earlier there had been an attempt to promote online sales but at present there seems to be not much effort in this matter. Of the two shops in Kolkata, the one that is still open seems to be in a state of decline,' the source said.
Visva-Bharati has not responded so far as to why such iconic books have remained out of print for over a year. But insiders blame it mainly on lack of planning as far as sales is concerned. Another major issue, according to them, has been the absence of a permanent director and the apathy of the production section.
'Even a year after the previous Vice-Chancellor left, there has not been a single new publication by the Granthan Vibhaga. A proposal was mooted earlier to transfer the production section from Kolkata to Santiniketan so that concerned departments interact better to plan new volumes on Tagore, but this has not been followed up,' an employee said.
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