The Book Collector: Anke Gowda

M. Ankegowda (66) has in the last 33 years collected over 10 lakh titles in 22 Indian languages and several foreign languages.

His first book cost him 25 paise, but that was over 30 years ago. Today, his book collection has made him the largest personal book collector in the country.

His astonishing achievement has propelled him into the Limca Book of Records 2016 in the ‘Largest Personal Book Collection’ category.

Eclectic mix

Mr. Ankegowda displays his eclectic mix — at Pustaka Mane in the Sri Anke Gowda Jnaana Pratishtaana at Haralahalli — which comprises 35,000 international magazines, 2,500 Kannada magazines, 2,500 titles on Mahatma Gandhi, 2,500 books on Bhagawad Gita, several hundreds of the Bible and holy books of other religions, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and fiction, and non-fiction in various national and international languages.

People come from far and wide to leaf through the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in different languages.

“Every week, at least a handful of Ph.D. students and research scholars visit ‘Pustaka Mane’ for referral material or to enhance their knowledge,” the collector said.

Helping him tend to his books are his wife Vijayalakshmi and son A. Sagar. They don’t hire help because they cannot afford it. “Instead of buying property, I spent my retirement benefits and earnings on books,” he said. He buys at least 1,000 books every month from different sources — book shops, publishers and second-hand book-sellers, said Ms. Vijayalakshmi.

The ‘Pustaka Mane’ is craving for facilities. Though businessman L. Hari Khode had constructed a building, it requires fire-fighting measures, dust-resistance window shutters and other facilities to protect the precious collections from termites.

Mr. Ankegowda has won numerous awards such as the Rajyotsava Award in 2014, and the G.P. Rajaratnam Sahitya Paricharika Award given by the Kannada Book Authority in 2009.