Pustak Mahal Publishers is a family-owned company incorporated in 1974.[1] As of 2010, Ram Avatar Gupta is the Chairman of the company.[2] With headquarters at New Delhi, it has branches at Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Patna.[1] It publishes mainly low cost paperback editions on subjects like English learning courses, dictionaries, astrology, palmistry, numerology, beauty care, self-improvement books, books for children, cooking guides,[1] Hindu Mythology, text books etc. and participates in Books fairs arranged in cities like Prayagraj,[2] Visakhapatnam,[3] Beijing[4] etc. Pustak Mahal joined other Indian publishers to protest against scanning and uploading of books by Google under the provisions of Google Book Settlement and filed objections with a New York court during 2010.[5]

Guide to English Language

Pustakal Mahal's publication "Rapidex English Speaking Course" was much sought after by common man of India, who wanted to learn basic English speaking. First printed in 1976 with 3,000 copies,[2] it ran several into reprints and became popular with Indians such as Bank employees, house wives, students trying to learn English, which has become link language of India after its independence.[2]

Indian cricketer Kapil Dev had endorsed the "Rapidex English Speaking Course" in the 1980s.His rustic accent endeared him to Indians who didn’t speak the language and wanted to learn it to get ahead in life. His faith in Rapidex showed them the way. Years later, the cricketer said: "My interest at that stage was not promoting or learning English, But I realised that it inspired many like me to learn a new language."[6]

World Famous Series

Pustak Mahal published a series of titles under the "World Famous" series, covering a spectrum of topics of general interest and curiosity. Some of the noteworthy mentions are World Famous Discoveries, World Famous Unsolved Mysteries, World Famous Adventures, World Famous Ghost Stories, World Famous Scientists, World Famous Escapades, World Famous Treasures, World Famous Supernatural Mysteries. During 1990's around 48 titles under the series were in print in English and Hindi. Subsequently some of the titles were withdrawn while some were reprinted.

Imprints

Pustak Mahal has two imprints. Cedar Books is dedicated to publishing fiction and majority of the authors of Cedar Books are from India.[7] Hindoology Books is another imprint of the company which publishes books on Hindu Mythology, prayer systems and mythology for children.[8]

Kindle books

The company is one of the first publishers in India to digitalize its publications and more than 300 of titles are in the form of Kindle books.[9][10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "About Us. Pustak Mahal". Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Sethi, Atul (10 October 2010). "Remembering First Desi Guidebook". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  3. ↑ "Book fest". The Hindu. 25 November 2002. Archived from the original on 4 November 2003. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  4. ↑ Joseph, Anil K (4 September 2006). "Indian Book Publishers break into Chinese Market". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 25 October 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  5. ↑ "Publishers approach US court against Google". Deccan Herald (Bangalore). 29 January 2010. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  6. ↑ "Indian Express; When messengers lose the message". Indian Express. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  7. ↑ "Cedar Books". New Delhi: Pustak Mahal. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  8. ↑ "Hondoology books". New Delhi: Pustak Mahal. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  9. ↑ "E-books in India: Lukewarm response till now". Deccan Herald (Bangalore). 13 December 2010. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  10. ↑ amazon, com. "Kindle store". Amazon.com. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
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