Centuries-old Portuguese book to be open for public
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, MAY 28
Two centuries-old, Portuguese books, currently, in possession of the Department of Printing and Stationary will be soon open for public reference. The department is setting-up a library of 1800-odd books published by the printing press since its inception in 1840, the first printing press of Asia.
The Director of Printing and Stationery N D Agarwal speaking to Herald on Thursday said, readers and researchers will now have access to rare Portuguese books which are in possession of the Printing Press.
Readers would be allowed to take digital photo copies from the books available for reference and computer print out of the same, on payment of certain amount.
Library is likely to be inaugurated next week. The task of sorting out books for library from the maze of books that are lying with the department since two centuries is now done on war footing even as the actual work started in 2003.
List of books available for reference will also be listed on its website but it is under construction and would be launched soon, told Agarwal. Besides, titles of Portuguese books are converted into English for easy reference.
But maintaining century old books is not easy as paper turns brittle with the passage of time. Considering the enormity of the task, department has sought help from the department of Archives and Archaeology, informed Agarwal.
The department has ambitious plan to make available entire set of official gazettes published between 1962 to 2006 on CDs. The set of 48 CDs is likely to be launched next week. A few months back official gazettes for 2007 and 2008 were made available on CDs.
