J. N. Petit Library, Victorian library in Fort, Mumbai, India
The J. N. Petit Library is a limestone building with Gothic arches and a two-story design that includes a mezzanine level in Mumbai's Fort district. The reading room can hold about 300 visitors and displays the classical architecture typical of the late 1800s with its distinctive structural elements.
The library began in 1856 when students from Elphinstone College founded it as the Fort Improvement Library. The current building opened in 1898 after Bai Dinbai Petit donated funds to construct the new structure.
The collection reflects Mumbai's linguistic diversity with books in English, Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Sanskrit, Urdu, and Persian arranged throughout the shelves. You will notice how these different languages sit side by side, showing how the city's readers have always drawn from many traditions.
The library opens to visitors every day and offers membership options for Mumbai residents who want to borrow books and read periodicals. Access to the collection and the reading room typically requires membership.
The library holds a gold-leaf illustrated manuscript of the Shahnameh, the 11th-century Persian epic by poet Ferdowsi, which represents a rare treasure. This manuscript stands out as a remarkable example of medieval bookmaking and shows how Mumbai's collections connect to distant literary traditions.
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