‘Bibliopole Days’ bring together book lovers in Kadıköy

ISTANBUL

The 1st Kadıköy Bibliopole Days, organized in collaboration with the Kadıköy Municipality and the Beyoğlu Bibliopoles Association, has opened in Istanbul’s Kadıköy neighborhood on the city’s Anatolian side. 

The event, which is taking place on Ali Suavi Street, better known as Sanatçılar (Artists) Street, presents rare books, magazines, recordings, old documents and maps, Ottoman books and magazines, first-print books and other second-hand books. 

Ümit Nar, the chair of the Beyoğlu Bibliopoles Association and the owner of Hermes Bibliopole, said 42 second-hand book sellers from İzmir, Ankara and Istanbul participated in the event. 

“Book sales tend to decrease in the summer so we organize such events to prevent this. I am sure that publishing houses have the same concern. Such events are a kind of breath for us,” Nar added. 

“I have been selling second-hand books for 10 years. I am a good reader too. I always defend the idea that a good bibliopole should be a good reader. Our readers are mostly post-graduate and doctorate students. So you need to be a good reader in order to do this job properly and to address these people properly,” he said. 

“Very valuable books can also be found in second-hand booksellers. Recently I found some parts of a 200-year-old copy of Plato’s Dialogues. They were printed in the Greek language in Germany and the footnotes are in Latin. It is a beautiful book and one of the most valuable and oldest books I have,” Nar stated. 

“A bibliopole needs to speak Ottoman as well as other languages in order to understand the books. There is a need to know about the languages that existed in our land. There is a special alphabet named ‘Karamanli’ in which books were written by Christian Turks living around Niğde. I barely know Karamanli and I also want to learn Latin,” he added. 

Nar also spoke about how many people try to sell fake books.

“For example, people sometimes come saying they have a 3,000-year-old book. We don’t take them seriously because first of all that is illegal and a crime. And most probably they are fake. We show them to our masters in any case,” he added. 

The event also includes three exhibitions and will open until June 17 everyday between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.