Tagore in Print in Post Copyright
Phase: An Assessment
Partha Pratim Ray
Librarian and Guest Faculty
Instt. of Education, Visva-Bharati
West Bengal- 731 235
E-mail: raypartha1@hotmail.com
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1. Introduction
The first book of Rabindranath Kavi-Kahini was published in the year 1878 by
his friend Prabodh Chandra Ghosh. Regarding this publication Rabindranath
wrote “When I was in Ahmedabad with my brother, my friend astonished me
by sending this book”1. The second one Banaphul was published in the year
1880 by the poet’s elder brother Somendranath. Sailesh Chandra Majumdar
of Majumdar Library was the first professional publisher who first published
Kavyagrantha (collected works) of Rabindranath in the year 1903-04. Before
that Rabindranath had to publish his works using his own fund with the
exception of Kadi o Komal (published in 1886 by People’s Library),
Chithipatra (published in 1887 by Saratkumar Lahiri and Co.), and
Panchabhut (published in 1897 by Sur Company). Books published from Adi
Brahmasamaj Jantra were exclusively funded from his own fund given by his
father Debendranath Tagore. Sometimes Rabindranath had to face serious
scarcity of funds for publication as well as to meet the expenses of
Santiniketan Ashrama. Tagoreana (all the intellectual output of Rabindranath )
was even sold in half price from bookshops like Sri Sri Chaitanya
Pustakalaya, 9 Cornwallis Street, Kolkata in the year 1304 (B.S.) through
press advertisement. Even Rabindranath expressed his willingness to give up
copyright of his collected works and publications up to Kshanika (1900) for
rupees six thousand only to any persons in a letter addressed to Priyanath
Sen in 1307 (B.S.).
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Rabindranath established Visva-Bharati Granthan Vibhaga (VBGB), the
Publishing Department of the University, in the year 1923 and published
dance drama Basanta in the same year. But regular publication started from
the year 1925 with the publication of Puravi. Before that the publication right
of Tagoreana was given to Chintamani Ghosh, owner of Indian Press/ Indian
Publishing House of Allahabad. In a letter dated 18th September 1922
Rabindranath wrote “I have given the right of all my Bengali books to VisvaBharati in a deed and relieved now”. Vichitra Prabandha (Miscellaneous
Essays) published , with the declaration “ the copyright of these works rest
with Bolpur Brahmacharyashram” According to Tagore’s biographer
Prabhatkumar “Chintamoni Kar took the responsibility of publishing the
poet’s publication with the negotiation of Ramananada Chattopadhaya in
1908.The stock value of 100 books published up to 1923 was Rs.78,000.
Chintamanibabu gave his entire stock to Visva-Bharati at the cost of Rs.
26,000 only…” .
VBGB from its very beginning tried to be one of the best publishing houses as
well as centre for Rabindra culture with its printing and editorial quality,
uniform spelling throughout all the publications as well as house style to fulfill
Tagore’s vision of Samagra Rabindranath and Bisuddha Rabindranath.
According to 2006 catalogue there are 864 (Tagore’s writings 334, works
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Tagore 174, other titles 356) titles at the disposal of VBGS.
2. Research Question :* How far the uniqueness or quality of his writings are
maintained by publishers of all sorts, particularly in the case of
impression, illustrations, composition, font size, compilation,
etc.?
* What kind of publication should be treated as standard?
* Is the Tagoreana being published simultaneously by large
private publishing houses as well as small and new publishers in
Bengali?
* Are the private publishers maintaining any standard with
regard to Tagoreana?
· * What percentage of Tagoreana is being published by private
publishers?
· * Are the Visva-Bharati publications more costly?
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· * What will be the fate of less popular/commercially non-viable
3.Methodology and Source
For comparative study of the items such as publisher, printer,
year of publication, page, size, price, ISBN (International
Standard Book Number), copyright, illustrations, introduction
etc. the entire publication of Tagoreana by Visva-Bharati and
private publishers has been considered. But to know the quality
of the literary text, comparison was made in respect of change
or deletion of punctuation marks, use of additional punctuation
marks, mistakes in spelling, omission /addition of
words/sentence, clubbing of paragraph/lines, etc in Tagoreana
(published by Visva-Bharati) before and after expiry of
copyright; and post-copyright publications by private publishers
at the first page and at the interval of every ten pages. Last
edition of Tagoreana published during Tagore’s lifetime is
considered as standard publication.
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Initially 186 titles of 25 publishers consulted for this study. Out of
them four titles namely Gitanjali, Sanchayita, Gitabitan,
Galpaguchchha published by maximum number of publishers
(N=9) namely Kamini Prakashalaya(45), Juthika Book Stall(18),
Patraj Publication(15), Punascha(11), Ashok Book Agency(10),
Sahityam(7), Tuli-Kalam(6), Asia Publishing Company(5),
Narayan Pustakalaya(4) were finally considered for this study.
Other 16 publishers and their number of publications(within
bracket) are: United Publishers (15),Granthasambhar(9),
Gitanjali(6),Patra Bharati(6), Nirmal Book Agency (5), Mitra &
Ghosh(4), Radha Puatakalaya (3),Reflect Publication (3), Das
Sahitya Kutir(3), Bookfront Publication Forum (3), Prakash
Bharati (2), Sahitya Bharati (2), Babli Prakashani (1),
Baksahitya(1), Rajarshi Prakashan(1), Suranjana Prakashani (1).
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4. Publication of Tagoreana by Private Publishers
after the Expiry of Copyright
After the expiry of copyright in December 2001 Rabindranath’s
treasure is open and private publishers are free to publish
Tagoreana. The following Tables give some idea about total
number of publishers publishing Tagoreana.
Table: 1
Publishers of Bengali Books (2002-2006).
Sl.
No.
Year
No.of
Publishers
Publishing
Bengali Books
No.of Publishers
Publishing
Tagoreana
1.
2002
688
12
% of
Publishers
Publishing
Tagoreana.
1.74
2.
2003
688
12
1.74
3.
2004
755
32
4.24
4.
2005
755
38
5.03
5.
2006
658
38
5.76
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Table: 2
Year of first Publication of Tagoreana by Private Publishers
From Table 2 it is clear that 81 % (151 out of 186) books published in the
year 2002 immediately after the expiry of copyright. Nearly 13% (22 out
of 186) books were published in the year 2003. So, remaining 6% books
published in the last three years (2004-06).
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5. Tagoreana and International Standard Book Number (ISBN)
Table: 3:Tagoreana Published by Private Publishers with ISBN
From Table 3 it is clear that five publishers (Patraj, Punascha, Mitra & Ghosh, Reflect and Book Front) published
Tagoreana with ISBN. In other words, five publishers out of twenty-five (i.e.20%) published Tagoreana with ISBN. If
titles having ISBN is considered, the figure would be 36 out of 186 titles i.e. 19% only.
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6 .Comparison of Price of Tagoreana Published by Visva-Bharati and
Private Publishers
Table: 4
Comparative Statement of Price: VBGB and Private Publishers
It is evident from the above table that the price of all the four titles of VBGB
publication is higher than any other private publishers. Except Gitanjali three titles
namely Sanchayita, Gitabitan, Galpaguchchha of Visva-Bharati in the
comparative table are hardbound. Books published by private publishers are
hardbound (except Gitanjali published by Sahityam) but the binding quality is
poor. The price of Gitanjali - bilingual edition of Asia Publishing seems to be
higher but the price of the same edition of Visva-Bharati is much higher i.e Rs.
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125.00.
7.Comparison of Page and Size of Tagoreana Published by Visva-Bharati and
Private Publishers:
Table: 5
Comparative Statement of Page and Size: VBGB and Private Publishers
From the above table it is clear that the number of pages of the books
published by VBGB is much higher in comparison to the number of pages of
books published by private publishers( except Gitanjali published by Asia
which is bi-lingual edition with higher oprice) through the size remains more
or less same. Thus, it is evident that to keep price low, the private publishers
compromised on paper, binding and printing quality, font size, space between
lines and also top and bottom margins which in many cases violate aesthetic
beauty and also publishing quality.
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8. Textual Comparison of Tagoreana Published by Private Publishers
and Visva-Bharati:
Table: 6
Textual Comparison: Kamini Prakashalaya
Punctuation Marks: Other Punctuation Marks Used or Omitted
Table 6a
Punctuation Marks: Additional Punctuation Used
Table: 6b
Other Mistakes
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Table: 7
Textual Comparison: Juthika Book Stall.
Punctuation Marks: Other Punctuation marks Used or Omitted
Table: 7a
Punctuation Marks: Additional Punctuation Marks Used
Table:7b
Other Mistakes
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Table: 8
Textual Comparison: Patraj Publications.
Punctuation Marks: Other Punctuation Marks Used or Omitted
Table:8a
Punctuation Marks: Additional Punctuation Marks Used
Table:8
Other Mistakes
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Table: 9
Textual Comparison: Punascha
Punctuation Marks: Other Punctuations Marks Used or Omitted
Table: 9a
Punctuation Marks: Additional Punctuation Marks Used
Table: 9b
Other Mistakes
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9. Discussion
It was observed during the study that though most of the books
published by private publishers are hardbound, the binding as well
as paper and printing quality in general is poor. Regarding design
of cover page Visva-Bharati follows a house style of saffron cover
(with such exceptions as Raktakarabi, Chhinnapatra , Natir puja,
Khapchhada, Chandalika and Sey) which is the symbol of
sacrifice with title and signature of Rabindranath Tagore in front
cover in brown or red and Visva-Bharati logo, price and ISBN at
the back cover. Out of 186 titles consulted at the initial stage of
this study, cover pages of 64 books contain photograph of
Rabindranath, 21 contain paintings and drawings of Rabindranath,
and theme of the story is drawn in 89 titles and 12 titles with
theme and Rabindranath’s photo both. The cover page with
theme is mostly scene of cinematography of Rabindranath’s
popular novels
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In case of Tagoreana published by Visva-Bharati, either there is an introduction
by Rabindranath Tagore himself (with the exception in Gitanjali where the
introduction is by W.B. Yeats) or without any introduction. In most of the cases
books published by private publishers included the introduction of Rabindranath
whenever available and at the same time introduction written by some others
also included. It is interesting to note that Sudeb Mukhopadhyay (no official
address given) wrote introductions for three publishers: Kamini Prakashalaya
(in 14 books), United Publisher (in 2 books) and Granthasamhar (in 2 books).
The same introduction was used thrice in Gitanjali published by three
publishers. Other persons to introduce Tagoreana are Kamakshiprasad
Bandyopadhyay (no address given)- one book entitled Khapchhada of Kamini
Pustakalaya; Tarun Mukhopadhyay (Department of Bengali, University of
Calcutta)- eleven books published by Juthika; renowned literary personality
Prof. Prabitra Sarkar- two books of Punascha; Amitava Basu (home address
given) and Basanta Bhattacharyay (no address given )- book of Ashok Book
Agency,
Dr. Parthajit Gangyopadhyay and Tirthapati Datta- one title each
Galpaguchchha and Chhelebela respectively for Tuli-Kalam; writer Sunil
Gangyopadhyay for five titles of Patra Bharati; Dr. Alok Kumar Sen ( no address
given) for all the four titles (Gitanjali, Sanchayita, Gitabitan, Galpaguchchha) of
Narayani. As most of the introducers did not give their official or residential
addresses questions are likely be raised about the authenticity and also
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academic credibility to introduce Tagoreana.
In a good number of books published by Visva-Bharati,
granthaparichaya has tremendous research value as it provides
information regarding first publication, change in manuscript by
Rabindranath, criticism, Rabindranath’s own interpretation, etc.
Out of 41 titles of Visva-Bharati compared, 23 have this kind of
granthaparichaya. Most of the private publications of Tagoreana
lack this kind of granthaparichaya though publishers like Patraj in
Sanchayita and Gitabitan included granthaparichaya of VisvaBharati. It is worthy to note here that this granthaparichaya section
was not written by Rabindranath, in later period it was added with
the book by VBGB, first initiated by Charuchandra Bhattacharya.
So copying of granthaparichaya is a clear violation of copyright.
Only in ten books (two of Kamini- Gitanjali and Gitabitan; three of
Tuli-Kalam-Gitabitan, Galpaguchchha, Lipika; four of
Patrabharati- Sesher Kavita, Malancha, Chaturanga, Char
Adhyay; one of Nirmal Book agency- Khapchhada)
granthaparichaya has been added as publishers own contribution
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, but a large portion of it is copied from VBGB.
10. CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it may be concluded that most of the private
publishers published Tagoreana with low price which resulted in poor quality in
respect of physical as well as intellectual part of the thought content with huge
number of punctuation-mark mistakes, spelling mistakes, line/ word omission
/addition,
and
pragraph
clubbed/
separated.
Only a small portion of private publishers (5.78%) are publishing Tagoreana in
Bengali and the leading publishers are yet to start publishing Tagoreana. The
interest of private publishers was high immediately after expiry of copyright as
maximum number (81%) of titles was published in 2002. A very small portion of
commercially viable and fast saleable titles of Tagoreana (13.83%) has been
published by private publishers even five years after the expiry of copyright.
Thus, though Tagoreana is now available easily at less cost but ‘Bisuddha
Rabindranath’ as well as ‘Samagra Rabindranath’ are still distant dreams.
Thus publishers publishing Tagoreana in the copyright free world should be
more careful and that would be the best way to pay homage in the 150th birth
centenary to the greatest literary personality, India had ever produced.
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This is a homage from a humble
Granthagar Karmi in the 150th Birth
Centenary of Gurudev Rabindranath
Tagore.
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