Galeri Buku offers good, cheap books
Galeri Buku offers good, cheap books
Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Tucked away in the far right corner of the Taman Ismail Marzuki
(TIM) arts center on Jl. Cikini Raya in Central Jakarta, many
people overlook the small bookstore selling both classic and new
books at affordable price.
The modest bookstore, called Galeri Buku Bengkel Deklamasi,
often packed with art and film students from the Jakarta
Institute of the Arts (IKJ), is overshadowed by the movie
theater, the planetarium and sidewalk cafes inside the arts
center.
But for those searching for English or Indonesian works of
fiction and nonfiction, both classic and contemporary, poems or
scripts, used and new, the bookstore is worth a visit.
"I've had a passion for collecting books since the 1970s, and
I've traveled to a lot of places just to find interesting and
difficult-to-find literature," artist and poet Jose Rizal Manua,
the owner of the bookstore, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
He recalled when he used to travel to Bandung and Yogyakarta
just to visit book fairs there.
"I went to Palasari in Bandung and Shopping Center in
Yogyakarta to find rare books that I couldn't find anywhere
else," Jose, the founder of Teater Tanah Air, said.
Then, in 1988, he had the chance to go to the United States
with the famous Indonesian poet W.S. Rendra. There, he said, he
saw used bookstores of the kind that did not exist in Indonesia.
When he returned home, he talked to TIM's management about his
idea of opening a used bookstore for college students to find
books that were difficult to locate and no longer sold.
On April 27, 1996, the bookstore was officially opened in the
TIM complex, which is a popular hangout for artists and college
students.
A customer, Andono Ahmad, said that he heard about the
bookstore from a friend, who told him he had to visit.
"My friend told me that I could find just about any kind of
books here, and at much lower prices," said the 28-year-old civil
servant.
Another visitor, Olivia Ruslan, said she first happened upon
the bookstore by accident.
"I found out about this place a couple of years ago when there
was a movie festival at TIM. At the time, I was trying to find
interesting stores nearby, and I found the bookstore."
The 29-year-old editor was surprised to find lots of classic
literature that she did not see in other bookstores. "And the
books were sold at lower prices."
Not all of the books are in perfect condition, but with prices
as low as Rp 2,000 (24 US cents) it is easy to overlook the
condition of the books as long as they are still readable.
So, as Olivia put it, the next time you want to quench your
thirst for good reading, drop by the Galeri Buku in TIM.