Banglabazar: How the country’s book capital lost its rhythm
Once the heart of Bangladesh’s publishing trade, Banglabazar is struggling to adapt to a changing market as sales fall amid rising printing costs and shifting reading habits
The moment you step into Banglabazar, the clatter of printing machines drifts out of the presses. Walk down any of its lanes, and the smell of books is never far away. One alley leads into the next, and in this maze, it is easy to lose your way and hard to find it again.
The lanes are narrow, lined with shops selling books from every publishing house, stacked shelf upon shelf. In this area, crowded with multistorey markets, signboards have taken the place of the sky. During the Ekushey Book Fair in February every year, the entire neighbourhood surges with relentless energy. To a first-time visitor, it might feel like "a capital within a capital".
However, despite the market retaining its familiar ambience, the numbers tell a different story about the business behind the scenes.
A market shaped by Partitions
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The country's largest book market, Banglabazar, was part of old Dhaka even before the Mughal era. At the time, the area was a trade and commerce hub. Later, as the city expanded westward, Chawkbazar emerged as a major commercial centre. But Banglabazar retained its place as a centre for books.
Some travellers of that period referred to the region as "Bengala Nagar". According to one theory, the name Banglabazar may have derived from this term.
Writer Muntasir Mamun and others, however, offer a different explanation. Bengalis had lived in the area from the beginning and established a market there, giving rise to the name Banglabazar.
The book market built by Bengalis has grown considerably over the years. But Banglabazar's association with books did not happen by chance; it has a long history.
In 1610, the Mughal Subahdar (governor) Islam Khan I transferred the capital of the Bengal Subah (province) from Rajmahal to Dhaka. In 1860, the Bangala Yantra printing press was established in Dhaka.
Between 1865 and 1900, influenced by the puthi (manuscript) tradition of Kolkata's Battala, countless Muslim puthis appeared in Chawkbazar, next to Banglabazar, and a book quarter known as ketabpatti took shape. These three developments helped shape Banglabazar's association with books.
According to researcher Syed Abul Maksud, one or two bookshops began to appear here soon after the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. At the time, printing presses were located in Babubazar, while Banglabazar had bookshops. In addition, some religious bookshops that had emerged in the early nineteenth century under British rule in areas such as Chawkbazar, Patuatuli and Mughaltuli later moved to Banglabazar.
As East Bengal stirred politically and culturally in the wake of the Partition of Bengal in 1905 and the founding of the University of Dhaka in 1921, Banglabazar felt the effects too. Writers and literary figures began gathering in the area to talk and exchange ideas. In 1925, Buddhadeva Bose's first poetry collection, Marmabani, was published from No. 26, Banglabazar.
That tradition of literary adda continued in Banglabazar in the decades that followed. Mashfiqullah Tonmoy, son of Mohammad Liaquat Ullah, the present owner of Student Ways, said that Dr Muhammad Shahidullah, Syed Shamsul Haque, Humayun Ahmed and many other distinguished figures visited their shop at various times.
But it was the Partition of 1947 that truly reshaped the book market. In undivided India, publishing was largely centred in Kolkata, and people in East Bengal brought books from there to sell. After Partition, however, the local publishing industry appeared to receive a new lease of life.
The rise of Banglabazar's publishing trade
The book trade began taking shape in Banglabazar in the 1950s, with creative publishers such as Naoroz Kitabistan, Student Ways, Great East Library, Al Hamra Library and Malik Library. Mullick Brothers also moved from Kolkata to establish a publishing business in East Pakistan.
Today I paid Tk60 in rickshaw fare to come to the shop from home. It's half past three, but I haven't even made my boni (first sale) yet! There was a time when Tk10–15 lakh changed hands in a day. Now, selling even Tk5,000 in an entire day has become difficult.
At the time, textbooks outsold creative books, and Banglabazar's publishing trade remained heavily dependent on Kolkata's literary output. Many publishers were writers themselves. Children's writer Mohammad Nasir Ali headed Naoroz Kitabistan, Mohammad Habibullah owned Student Ways, and poet Moinuddin ran Al Hamra Library, forging a close link between publishing and literature.
In the 1960s, the formation of the East Pakistan Textbook Board accelerated Banglabazar's growth, particularly in textbooks, religious publications and educational books.
The market then consisted mostly of single-storey shops, some with tin roofs and others built with lime, clay and surki (brick dust). Reinforced concrete construction began after the 1971 Liberation War. Shops stood along the main road, with no establishments in the inner lanes. From Mannan Market, the Buriganga River was visible.
Recalling the golden period
Over time, tin-roofed stalls and chauchala (four-sloped roof) buildings gave way to multistorey markets. One- and two-storey structures gradually grew taller, with three- and four-storey markets and larger buildings eventually appearing across the area.
Mannan Market is one of the best-known. Islami Tower is another, alongside Gias Garden Market, Qawmi Market, Boi Bichitra Market and others.
For generations, the publishing business in Banglabazar has largely passed from one generation to the next. Many inherited their businesses, while others honed their skills working at various publishing houses before opening their own shops.
Amjad Hossain, owner of Shah Ali (R) Library, has been in the book trade for more than 50 years. He has spent much of his life amid the dust of the market and the smell of books.
"In the beginning, I used to bring books from India and do business. Then I started printing books myself, and I continue to this day," he said. Alongside selling books, he has nurtured a deep love of literature throughout his life. Smiling, he added, "It's not just printing and selling books; I've written plenty of poems on the sly, too."
Looking back, Banglabazar's history of printing, publishing and literary growth is a rich one. Many once-unknown names have passed through this market and gone on to make their mark in the literary world.
According to publishers, Banglabazar now has about 4,000 bookshops and more than 400 creative publishers. There are also textbook publishers, bringing the total number of publishers to around 2,000. Until 1975, retail buyers regularly purchased books here. The market is now primarily known as a wholesale book hub, supplying supplementary textbooks and creative books to every corner of the country.
According to figures provided by several creative publishers in Banglabazar, books worth around Tk6–7 lakh used to be traded here every day.
Turaj Saha, assistant accountant at the Bangladesh Publishers and Booksellers Association, said, "Between Chaitra Sankranti and Pohela Boishakh, sales sometimes reached around Tk40 lakh." As for textbook sales, no one could provide an exact figure. They would only say, "Over Tk1 crore a day."
An octogenarian employee of Ahmed Publishing House recalled, "We used to have no time to catch our breath; we couldn't even find time to talk! We sold more than Tk6–7 lakh a day."
The Bangladesh Publishers and Booksellers Association now has more than 1,000 members. Across this vast book industry, which encompasses typesetting, printing, pasting, binding and lamination, more than a lakh people earn their living in and around the Banglabazar book quarter.
There was a time when Banglabazar's bookshops were concentrated around Northbrook Hall Road. Those days are long gone. The market has since spread across a wider area, stretching along Northbrook Hall Road and Paridas Road and extending to Hemendra Chandra Das Road.
But as a growing number of readers now shop from online bookstores, this age-old tradition faces a harsh reality.
Adapting to a changing market
The familiar bustle of the past has largely subsided. Conversations with wholesale traders reveal a bleak picture. According to them, buying and selling have declined by nearly 80% under current circumstances.
Even after an entire day, it is difficult to find a customer in some bookshops. Going days without making a sale seems to have become commonplace. In one such quiet shop, amid books scattered around, an old man sat leaning against the wall. He was the owner of Quran Mahal, who wished to remain anonymous. He shared that his shop had not sold a single book in eight consecutive days.
The same sense of despair prevailed at Islamia Book Depot. Even at half past three in the afternoon, its owner, Mohammad Shamsul Haque, was passing the time in an empty shop.
"Today I paid Tk60 in rickshaw fare to come to the shop from home. It's half past three, but I haven't even made my boni (first sale) yet! There was a time when Tk10–15 lakh changed hands in a day. Now, selling even Tk5,000 in an entire day has become difficult."
The sharp rise in paper prices has significantly increased the cost of printing and binding books. As a result, publishers have been forced to raise book prices, discouraging ordinary readers from buying them.
Maola Press, now run by Mohammad Ali Khan, has a history spanning more than 60 years and three generations.
Recalling stories he had heard from his father, Khan said, "From the sixties to even the eighties, the situation was such that publishers could print anywhere from 1,200 to 2,200 copies in the first edition of any book, without hesitation."
"Print runs have now fallen to just 300–350 copies," he added.
The widespread use of smartphones, easy access to free e-books, the convenience of online book purchases and the growing reach of Artificial Intelligence (AI) have also contributed to the sharp decline in Banglabazar's traditional book sales.
Tariqul Islam still visits Banglabazar every three or four months. Although he is a reader in the digital age, he dislikes reading books on a phone screen. His assessment of the market's current slump is clear.
"Books are easy to access on smartphones now, and there are many ways to read without buying them. So ordinary people no longer want to go to the trouble of coming to the market to buy books," he said.
Yet the market is adapting. In response to changing buying habits, many shops have started selling books online, creating new channels to reach customers.
The shift has not erased Banglabazar's traditional book trade, but it has changed how the trade operates. A market that once depended almost entirely on customers walking through its narrow lanes is now learning to reach readers beyond them.
