Purchasing and collecting books from second-hand booksellers is a unique aesthetic of bookselling and reading in Mumbai. The musty smell, scribbled notes from previous readers, affordable prices, and the flexibility of exchanging and returning books, curates a very distinctive reading experience in the city.

Amidst these sellers, sit the antiquarians, who have been collecting and selling books for more than 20 years, bringing an explicit collection of old and rare books, dating back to the 1800s. “I’ve always been an avid reader and this profession of selling and collecting books started during my college days,” says Shashikant Sawant, a rare bookseller from Vashi.