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Select Book Shop, Bangalore: rare and second-hand books since 1945
Select Book Shop is an antiquarian and second-hand bookshop in a lane off Brigade Road, founded in 1945 and run by the same family ever since. It holds more than 9,000 volumes, some of them centuries old. There are no published opening hours, so it is worth calling ahead; the shop is easy to miss, behind a gate most people walk straight past.
Down a lane off Brigade Road, behind a gate most people walk straight past, an antiquarian shop founded in 1945 by the advocate K.B.K. Rao and stacked floor to ceiling with more than 9,000 second-hand and rare volumes, some of them centuries old. Its longtime keeper K.K.S. Murthy, known to collectors far beyond India, died in February 2025; his son K. Sanjay keeps the shop open. Nothing here is arranged for quick browsing: you ask, and the conversation does the finding. Worth calling ahead.
Eighty years of rare books in a house off Brigade Road that almost nobody notices
Eighty years of Select Book Shop
The shop was started in 1945 on Museum Road by K.B.K. Rao, an advocate from Kurnool. His son K.K.S. Murthy spent 18 years as an engineer at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. before joining the family business, and in 1984 he moved the shop to its present address off Brigade Road.
Murthy became the shop. He remembered what returning customers read, even after years, and recommended books to match. The historian Ramachandra Guha, a regular for more than four decades, has called it his favourite among India's second-hand bookshops; the playwright Girish Karnad was a frequent visitor; Ruskin Bond mentions the shop in one of his books. A 2021 documentary, “Ayda Pustaka” (“The selected book”), is about Murthy and the shop.
Murthy died on 17 February 2025, aged 95. His son, K. Sanjay, now runs Select.
What you will find
More than 9,000 second-hand and rare books, stacked floor to ceiling, with some volumes dating back to the 15th century. This is not a shop arranged for quick browsing or for new releases. The way it works is to say what you are looking for, a subject, an author, an old edition, and let the conversation do the finding.
How to visit
The shop is in a house down a lane off Brigade Road, in central Bangalore, behind a gate that is easy to miss; use the map above to find the exact spot. We found no officially published opening hours, and the card above shows none for that reason. Call ahead before making a special trip, especially if you are after something specific.
❓ FAQ
Where is Select Book Shop in Bangalore?
In a lane off Brigade Road in central Bangalore, behind a gate. It has been at this address since 1984.
Who owns Select Book Shop now?
K. Sanjay, son of K.K.S. Murthy, who ran the shop for decades and died in February 2025. Murthy's father K.B.K. Rao founded it in 1945.
What are Select Book Shop timings?
No official hours are published. Call ahead before you go.
Where can you find rare and old books in Bangalore?
Select Book Shop is one of the city's best-known antiquarian shops, with over 9,000 used and rare volumes, some from the 15th century.