Nirmal Chandra Kumar can be said to be a worthy representative of a glorious bygone era in the cultural history of the city of Calcutta. His centenary has just been completed. In 1976, the late Nirmal Chandra's contribution to the culture of Calcutta reflects how different the Bengali society was at that time. Nirmal Chandra created an amazing collection of old books in Kolkata from 1940. From art, travel, ornithology, botany, history, literature, mountaineering to religion, Indology—what was not in his library? The collection was a centre of attraction for many educated people of the city. Satyajit Ray (the famous film maker), Kamal Kumar Majumder (the author), Shanti Chowdhury (India's first documentary filmmaker), Nikhil Sarkar ( the writer using the name Sreepanth), Raghuveer Singh (the internationally famous photographer), Marie Seaton (Satyajit Ray biographer), N J Nanporia (Editor of The Statesman), Mulk Raj Anand (the Art Connoisseur), Nirmalendu Chowdhury (the Folk Singer), Ashok Mitra (Father of Indian Census), Subho Tagore (the Cubist Painter and Collector of Calcutta Memorabilia), Radha Prasad Gupta (Author, Anglophile and Collector) . A literal who’s who of the Calcutta Intelligentsia. They regularly used to meet at Kumar’s home to join the adda session and as described by R P Gupta, this usually followed by sumptuous food fit for the story in Arabian Night. In 1940 antique books were a rarity in Calcutta. It is at this time that Nirmal Chandra Kumar, the antiquarian started an establishment at his home with his collection of books, maps and prints at Jora Girja near Entally. He started his first working life with writing but in his own words did not meet with success and turned to collecting books and prints. According to Mulk Raj Anand, around 1950 his home became a place to travel through books: you could pick up a print or visit a map of an unknown place; you could travel to Somerset, sail down the river Nile or take a boat down the Hoogly. When Satyajit Ray took up the project on making Satranj Ki Khilari he relied on Kumar for Books and Maps for research. Kumar did not let him down and bid for a Mutiny Scrap book in an auction in London and obtained it for a princely sum of £100. Ray did not forget this gesture. Radha Prasad Gupta has mentioned in one of article that there is close resemblance of Sidhu Jetha in Satyajit Ray’s Feluda series with Kumar. The famous traveller Ella Maillart narrated that Kumar’s home was a pilgrim where you could spend the whole day rummaging through books on travel and discuss many things related to it. The millionaire Jean Riboud who had married Krishna, the niece of Soumendra Nath Tagore, who lived nearby at Entally, visited Kumar whenever he was in Calcutta. He collected French books which Kumar mostly collected from Chandannagar and kept for Jean. Kumar was also the first to publish a Catalogue of his collection much like the British establishments. The collection of rare books on Himalayan Birds and many books in the Zoological Garden Calcutta was contribute by Kumar. He also started a book-reading session at his home, which was a first in Calcutta in those days. Not a very serious session but with lot of interaction making the atmosphere light and interesting. From 1975 a trend started to tear antique books for the rare engravings and prints and sell them separately to make a fortune. Much of these were bought by nouveau-riche and the big hotels to be framed and put up in the wall. Kumar would have nothing of this and held the books close to his chest. He would rather die than tear the books apart. Till the last days he held his collection of books , close to his chest as he kept the tradition of a true antiquarian.
Read the article on the website of Ananda Bazar Patrika