In Quest Of Gandhi: A Collector’s Personal Search For Mahatma Memorabilia

I suppose it is not uncommon for most Indians to profess a love and fascination for Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, and I count myself one among them. As a young man, I was so enamoured by Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi that I saw it over and over again, even though it was more of a hagiography than a biography. I even purchased the original poster of the 1982 film, and as if that wasn’t enough, I also bought an Attenborough-signed copy of the book In Search of Gandhi.

Like a talisman, the movie poster has since found a prominent place in my workplace – it has moved with me every time I moved my office – from Gurugram to Bengaluru to now Palo Alto. Another frame that finds a place in my home office is a print of M F Hussain’s painting of Gandhi. I particularly love the striking compilation of photographs in the book Gandhi by Peter Ruhe and Kanu Gandhi; both offer a profound insight into the life and work of the Mahatma.

So, it was only natural that as a collector, my passion for Gandhi would translate into collecting everything Gandhi.

A few years ago, I was sold the first edition of My Experiments with Truth by my favourite bookseller and friend, Krishna, who owns a bookstore in Bengaluru called Bookworm. Thrilled with the purchase, I looked for other rare Gandhi material, but nothing turned up for a whole year. And then a friend called me up out of the blue one day. She had stumbled on to an interview of mine, where I had mentioned that my dream possession would be a book signed by Gandhi. She provided me with a link to the bookshop that had it, and without any delay, I paid up and owned this piece of history. It was Mahatma Gandhi’s Ideas, 1930, by C F Andrews. It was signed by Gandhi in Hindi.

Having now acquired a Gandhi first edition and a signed Gandhi book, I shifted my focus to other things. But all the while, at the back of my mind was the thought: shouldn’t I be looking for other interesting or rare Gandhi collectibles?

A few months ago, I decided to act on this thought and asked a few well-connected book dealers to look for anything interesting or rare related to Gandhi or the people who had been close to him. Unlike many of us who are restricted to searches on online book websites, eBay and bookshops, these dealers have a far wider network. They can put the word out among their colleagues around the world.

The first interesting item that was brought to my attention was a very rare, first edition and first print of a seminal work of Gandhi’s, Satyagraha in South Africa, which had been published in 1928. I dug around a bit and discovered exactly how rare this edition was. It was issued in two states in the same year: one in a jute cover binding and the other, a regular cloth edition. My copy was made of jute – the rarer of the two.

Interestingly, though carrying a Navajivan imprint, as with many early books by Gandhi, it had been published by S Ganesan, a publisher and printer in Triplicane, Madras. Gandhi had been very invested in this English edition, and had worked closely with the translator and the publisher to bring it out.

The second and third lucky finds were books signed by two people who had been close to Gandhi. One, Miraben, the devoted Englishwoman, and two, Pyarelal, his private secretary for a long time. I was familiar with Pyarelal’s writings, having read Mahatma Gandhi: The Early Phase and Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase, published by the Navajivan Trust. Pyarelal had authored at least ten books on Gandhi (many of them were completed posthumously by his sister).

The dealers also ferreted out for me a very nice copy of Pyarelal’s The Epic Fast. Issued in wrappers, the book is usually found listed in poor condition, but this copy was well preserved and proved a wise buy. In a cool coincidence, the next interesting item associated with Gandhi was a book signed by C F Andrews.

One of the more unusual but attractive signed Gandhi items in my collection is a framed Gandhi photo with his signature. I must rush to add here that the signature was not on the photo – which would have made it truly spectacular – but it is what the book trade calls a clipped signature mounted under the photo and the whole thing framed as one piece.

My most recent acquisition is my second book signed by Gandhi – a second edition of My Experiments with Truth, this time signed in English, and in what looks like either pencil or black ink that has slightly faded over the years. Though no date is noted, a good guess would be sometime between 1945 and 1946 because this is when the owner of this copy most likely had a chance to meet his idol, the Mahatma.

What is particularly special about this copy is that it comes with solid provenance, making it especially valuable and interesting. It belonged to an English missionary who, like C F Andrews, turned Gandhian during his years in India. He came to India in 1924 and stayed on in the country until 1950. As someone who admired Gandhi, he often wrote to the Mahatma and was delighted and surprised when Gandhi wrote back to him one time.

His copy of My Experiments comes with a letter in which he is writing to a relative in England describing his efforts to get more involved in Gandhi’s movement. As a collector, what especially amused me about the contents of the letter (written in 1927) is that it is a response to a relative asking him if he could get hold of a letter signed by Gandhi as a keepsake. The missionary’s reply is that he himself managed with great difficulty to get hold of one letter from the Mahatma and he is going to hold on to it.

My interest in Gandhi goes deeper than just collecting memorabilia. I have over the years read almost every significant piece of writing on Gandhi and by Gandhi. I have, in fact, steeped myself in his life and work. My personal favourite is “The Mahatma and the Poet – Letters and Debates Between Gandhi and Tagore 1915-1941”. The letters are of a private nature and are preserved in the archives of Visva-Bharati, the University founded by Tagore. They are of great historical interest. The book, unfortunately, is not easily available. When I gifted it to Gary Zukav, the author of The Seat of the Soul, this is what he wrote to me:

A book such as this, imbued with the spirit of Gandhi and Tagore, makes me long for something in that coveted and desirable category within collecting signed material: association copies! How magical would it be to find or possess a book given to Gandhi by Tagore with his inscription, or a letter from Gandhi to Tagore.

As my quest to collect the Mahatma memorabilia continues, I am keeping my fingers crossed, hoping I will unearth a book or a letter or a pamphlet with interesting or significant association attached to it – because association copies have their own stories to tell. My quest continues.