Well, then, mate, I must say you are sitting on a gold mine!
The common trend among many middle class families is to either sell books or give them away while moving house.
That’s exactly the reason why many homes in Dhaka do not have a small library, which they should, because back in ‘70s and ‘80s, reading was a common habit among a large section of the educate population, both in the city and in the rural plus semi urban areas.
Actually, the word ‘town’ is no longer heard because most districts in 2025 have all the technological features and blessings enjoyed in the capital and, therefore, whether one is in Dhaka or in Natore – the facilities are all the same, net connection, satellite TV, You Tube, WhatsApp, Facebook and certainly TikTok.
However, in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the capital could be distinctly separated from the towns although Dhaka was also a slow paced city, to most marvelling foreigners, a sleepy town where time stood still.
Right, in those days, we all read and our daily dose of romance thrill, adventure and adrenaline came from Sheba Prokashoni books – Masud Rana, Kuasha, Sheba translation of classics and Sheba thrillers.
Masud Rana - the agent who refuses to become irrelevant: Well, all espionage agents have to hand over the holster and go into retirement, but our own spy, Masud Rana, is still around, captivating new readers and putting a spell on the old ones.
Rana, who came to the modern literary scene in 1966 as an agent of the Pakistan Counter Intelligence and then had a roaring time as a Bangladesh espionage agent, somehow manages to maintain his cachet.
In our younger days, we took all the Rana adventures as original and, honestly speaking, refused to accept the fact that most of his escapades were inspired by thrillers by a bevy of Western writers from Alistair MacLean to Wilbur Smith to James Hadley Chase to Clive Cussler to Len Deighton.
And naturally, Ian Fleming!
Anyway, these were not direct copies but took the general concept (Bideshi Kahinir Chaya Obolombone) of a plot.
See, even at 54, one part of me is not willing to accept these are based on Western novels.
So, Rana began his foray into the literary world with the novel, Dhongsho Pahar, which at that time was also printed in Urdu with the title, ‘Maut Ka Tila’.
This is an original work and based on writer Qazi Anwar Husain’s escapade in the Chittagong hill tracts.
The first two books, Dhongsho Pahar and Bharat Natyam both original stories, provide a fascinating glimpse into the socio-economic and political landscape of the time.
These came out immediately in the aftermath of the 1965 Indo-Pak War and the emotions of the period, tinged with nationalism are very much inter-twined with the plots and the narrative.
Again, just after liberation, Ekhono Shorojontro, another original story, captures the horrors of the War of Independence in 1971, the atrocities and the elements within the newly independent Bangladesh scheming to conspire against the nation.
As I said earlier, these novels were never word for word copy of western novels.
Instead, stories of most Rana novels are a blend between a loosely adopted plot and a heavy dose of local elements.
It’s because of these ‘local elements’ the books are treated like treasure in 2025.
They contain detailed descriptions of Dhaka and the rest of the country in general, the common social trends, fashion, intricacies of man-woman social dynamics along with small but thought provoking details about everyday habits of another era.
In short, the zeitgeist of the periods before and after liberation are found in the pages of Rana thrillers. Not to forget the most important aspect – the cover designs.
Starting from the late sixties, when thriller novels used dark silhouettes to the psychedelic influenced ones in the ‘70s to the ones that feature surreal paintings by Hashem Khan, these provide immensely absorbing aesthetic links to a literary style long lost.
If you own the old books, you are king: Alright, leaving our teenage obsession with Rana’s world of thrill, let’s walk into his mercenary sphere.
Yep, if you have old copies then you are a person much sought after and, if you are one of those who runs an online auction site to buy and sell old Rana and other Sheba books then, well, you are never short of cash!
A web of collectors have spread over the years, both in and outside the country.
This is the predatory realm of collectors, where the bidding is furious, the competition intense and the machinations no less complex than the plots of the books.
Let’s say you have a first edition copy of Guptochokro (based on Alistair McLean’s Dark Crusader) and published in 1970.
The price of the book can go as high as Tk. 30,000!
The picture of the book shown here is a 1977 third edition, which can easily fetch anything between Tk 4,000-Tk 7,000.
Rotno Dweep (When Eight Bells Toll) came out in 1968, and that copy is worth Tk 50,000 while the one you see here is a 1978 edition and can get you around ten thousand.
The condition matters of course while Kuasha novellas are also in high demand.
Kuasha, as you all know, is the series featuring an enigmatic, masked vigilante who is a fugitive but aids the law in nabbing a wide variety of criminals.
Kuasha books are very hard to come by because the series stopped publication in the early 90s.
All the adventures are currently available in volume format but the allure of the original books can never be superseded.
Mostly done by artist Hashem Khan, they create a haunting aura (as the one featured here).
Sheba Porkashoni brought out several anthology of thriller/supernatural stories. Two such works include the 1975 tour de force, Poncho Romancho, Chaaya Aronno and the riveting Shorgo Shourav which came out in 1985.
These are much-coveted items on auction along with Sheba horror publications like Pret (1983), Roktobeej (1983) and Jamshed Mustofir Haar (1990).
But the most rare Sheba books are the Bhoyal series which came out in the early ‘70s and then stopped publication after eight novels.
Inspired from the Doc Savage adventures, the books have mystical names like Maayar Daak, Maaya Konya, Neel Ulka and Rokter Daak.
Each book, if available in mint condition, can go up to Tk 40,000, whereas the other day, a guy who supplies me with Sheba old books, demanded Tk 20,000 for one without a cover.
So, if in some corner of your grandmother’s home about to be demolished for a high rise, there is a stack of old books under a heap of dust or, if you hear that the library in a remote village is planning to sell all books then make it a point to be there before someone else.
You never know what gem you may discover!
After all, everyone savoured Sheba books and although family seniors always frowned upon Masud Rana thrillers for the racy bits, mostread them surreptitiously and, secretly harboured a desire to be MR9.
Towheed Feroze is a former journalist and an avid collector of Sheba books! tferoze74@gmail.com
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