Located near KR Circle, on Nrupathunga Road, is the majestic building of the 100-year-old Daly Memorial Hall that houses the Mythic Society. And just behind is the Society’s equally old library that is a treasure trove of books — old and new. The library is about 100 years old and has about 43,700 books. The library is completely digitised but it was the old system of card catalogues that piqued our interest. Arranged according to authors and titles in alphabetical order, browsing through these cards are quite fun. Once you have picked your card, say Cicero which contains all of his works, including the Letters To Atticus. You aren’t allowed to browse through the books in the cupboard, so just don’t go snooping around the books. There are plenty of tables and benches for you to park yourself and read up on the material. And, since it’s open from 10 am in the morning every day except Monday, you could make a field trip out of your visit. This is a place where you can find old maps of Bangalore, revenue reports of the Archaeology Department, manuscripts written in Sanskrit, The Works of Plato, old editions of the Mahabharata (Vol. 1 to Vol. 13), and several religious, philosophical, archaeological and economic books.
Find an entire bookshelf filled with dictionaries that date back to the late 1800s, a whole lot of encyclopedias, a massive collection of historical books that talk about the origins of Karnataka that date from the time of Hoysalas (there’s about 4,000 odd books on that alone). Make a field trip and spend the whole day just going through these rather well-maintained books, catalogues, newspaper clippings, maps and manuscripts.
