Most of the books that I have bought, been given or picked up one way or another through the years are gathering dust in one corner of the house. Once in a while I pick up one again, and flip through the pages, stopping wherever I had left a mark, and try to refresh my memory of those printed words read.
I remember my plan of long ago of indexing my "mini library" and it's not done yet.
I said "most of the books" because I've lost a few - because of the passage of time and because of moving house many times in the last 43 years. The oldest books with me were given by my late father - "Hikayat Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir, Munshi" and "Kesah Pelayaran Abdullah" both from Malaya Publishing House Limited, Singapore, 1947. The latter was written in 1852, the last work of Munshi Abdullah before his death during the Holy Pilgrimmage. These two were given to me after the family moved back to Kuala Pilah from Tanjong Malam in 1957. That's 54 years ago !
I also have Mahmoed Joenoes' "Tafsir Quran Karim" from Pustaka Mahmudiah Djakarta 1957, the first prize for Oratory Competition for Negeri Sembilan Religious Schools in July 1958, held in Rembau. I have Prof. Muhammad Yamin's "Atlas Sedjarah" from Djambatan, Djakarta 1956 that was my first prize in the Oratory Competition for students 14 - 18 years during the "Minggu Bahasa Kebangsaan" Kuala Pilah District, January 1960. There was a big cup that came with the prize but that was kept by the School for the return competition, but I don't think there was. The Cup is probably lost.
Incidently, I went on and won the National Oratory Competition Minggu Bahasa Kebangsaan the same year, and received another big cup from the first Raja Permaisuri Agong at the Dewan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Ampang, KL. TMS, my old school, kept the cup and is probably lost now. But I still have the photo with the Permaisuri Agong taken by Straits Times. Lula, No.3 Son's wife, came across a newspaper cutting carrying the same photo with the story "....he is now probably 57 years old..." I was 60 when Lula showed the cutting to me.
I'll probably catalogue by subject. I have some old religious books, but the basic Malay text and not the advanced Arabic printing. For more advanced material I have to rely on the English translations by mostly Indian and Pakistani Islamic scholars.
The biggest subject collection must be under "Golf." At the last count I have close to 100 books on, about, or related to the game. The oldest is Harry Vardon's "The Complete Golfer" from McClure, Phillips, New York, 1905.
There was no obvious intention to keep a collection. I just acquired the books along, and they grew in number as I moved on.
But since I discovered the existence of "Pay-less Books" some years ago, I have regularly added my collection, especially hard cover editions. "Pay-less Books" makes old, pre-owned books very affordable for me, where new books in Malaysia must rank as probably the most expensive on the planet. Old or 2nd-hand, the contents of books don't age. In fact some may end up more valuable if , like Munshi Abdullah, they become very rare.
I have been thinking, why can't the Government allow books to be cheaper and make the public better read. Whatever loss on levies on paper and printed matter or whatever, are surely more than compensated by the gain in readership, and with it, knowledge.
I didn't know that Dekna would eventually become a lawyer when she was born, but somehow I've picked up a few books on, or related to law , and I've had them for a long time. For instance, there is the notorious (in Malaysia) Alex Josey's "The David Marshall Trials" from Times Books International, 1981, and "The Law is An Ass" by Gyles Brandreth, printed by Pan, 1984, bought in 1984, and the book by the New Zealand Q.C. about the celebrated sacking of Tun Salleh Abbas that is somewhere in the pile. And this is one more reason why I must organize myself now. "The Law is An Ass" I've shown to Dekna who showed no interest reading it. I think she should read it. All the anecdotes are authentic. The asses must be real!
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