College Street (Kolkata)

College Street (Bengali: কলেজ স্ট্রিট) is a ~1.5 km long street in central Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. It stretches (approximately) from Ganesh Chandra Avenue Crossing in Bowbazar area to Mahatma Gandhi Road crossing. Its name derives from the presence of many colleges, housing many centres of intellectual activity especially the Indian Coffee House, a café that has attracted the city's intelligentsia for decades.

The College Street is most famous for its small and big bookstores, which gives it the nickname Boi Para (Colony of Books). People from whole city and different parts of the state gathers here for their books. Many bigwigs of the Bengali publication industry (like: Ananda Publishers, Abhijan Publishers, Dey's Publishing, Rupa & Co., Katha-O-Kahini, Lalmati Prakashan, Mitra & Ghosh Publishers, Patra Bharati, Purushottam Publishers, Future Publishers & Distributors etc.) are situated here. The street is also dotted with countless very small book kiosks which sell new and old books. An article in the journal Smithsonian described College Street as ...a half-mile of bookshops and bookstalls spilling over onto the pavement, carrying first editions, pamphlets, paperbacks in every Indian language, with more than a fair smattering of books in and out of print from France, Germany, Russia and England. It is the largest second-hand book market in the world and largest book market in India and collectively boasts of a collection of almost any title ever sold at Kolkata. One can buy rare books at throw-away prices and extensive bargaining take place.

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