MP funds to put Sassoon Library back in circulation

MUMBAI: The 157-year-old David Sassoon Library has found another benefactor in Rajya Sabha MP Pritish Nandy.
The MP has just given it a grant of Rs 34 lakh from his MP fund for the restoration of its neo-Gothic building, a Grade I heritage structure, in the Kala Ghoda precinct. With this grant, the library has finally managed to raise the Rs 85 lakh it requires to restore the 1870 structure.
A comprehensive restoration scheme was drawn up a few years ago by the Bombay Collaborative, a conservation team that includes architects Sandhya Savant, Rahul Mehrotra and David Cardoz.The first phase of structural repairs and facade cleaning was carried out in time for the library’s 150th anniversary in 1997. The second, involving critical repairs to the gabled roof and clock-tower, could not be implemented because the library did not have the money.
“I read in the papers that the library had managed to get a grant of Rs 25 lakh each from the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Heritage Conservation Society earlier this year, but was struggling to raise the rest,’’ says Nandy. “I decided to chip in.’’ According to Vivek Ajgaonkar, the library’s President Emeritus, the restoration work will commence immediately after the monsoon.
“That will not be a day too soon,’’ he remarks, pointing to the alarming cracks in the ceiling under which stands the magnificent marble statue of Sir David Sassoon. The library members had petitioned the state government for funds a few years ago, highlighting the dangerous condition of the building, but no help came their way.
This February, they wrote to the chief minister again, urging a grant of Rs 5 crore from the 11th Finance Commission fund available for restoration projects in the states. If this grant materialises, they intend to augment their corpus and launch a direly needed book conservation and microfilming project.
Its collection of 44,000 books and publications includes important first editions and old tomes on science and technology, literature and philosophy in English, Marathi, Hindi and Gujarati as well as a number of rare volumes in English, French and German. Its oldest book, dated 1798, is a compilation of letters to Queen Anne from her secretary.
Among the many antique tomes that need to be conserved are Sansthans of India , Aryan Eclipsic Cycle, William Blake’s Prophetic Writings and Public Works of Great Britain.