K.K.S. Murthy, owner of Select Book Shop on Brigade Road in Bengaluru.
| Photo Credit: File photo
Bengaluru’s legendary bookseller K.K.S. Murthy, 95, the proprietor of Select Book Shop, passed away on Monday. He was suffering from age-related ailments.
He sat at his 80-year-old bookshop that has an iconic status in the city, off Brigade Road, until three months ago. He remembered the interests of almost every customer who walked into the store for a second time, even if it was after years, recommending books for everyone’s unique taste. “What distinguished him from others was his memory, the personal touch in his interactions with readers. It never felt like a business. He also recommended books for everyone’s particular taste,” said D.N. Guruprasad, of Aakruti Books.
Though Select Book Shop was identified with him, he was a second-generation bookseller. His father K.B.K. Rao, an advocate from Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, started the bookshop in 1945 on Museum Road. Murthy worked at the aerospace division of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) for 18 years and later joined the family business and grew to be synonymous with it. A documentary titled “Ayda Pustaka – The selected book” was also made on Murthy and Select Book Shop in 2021. Now, his son K. Sanjay runs the shop.
Historian Ramachandra Guha, a regular at Select Book Shop, has often talked of the shop as a great source for his research. In his essay collection The Last Liberal and Other Essays, he called it his favourite among all of India’s second-hand bookshops.
Published – February 18, 2025 12:23 am IST
