Our story

Four generations of putting the right book into the right hands.

Maneesh Book Shop has stood in Vadodara, Gujarat for four generations — long enough that we have sold books to people who first came in as schoolchildren and now come in with their own.

A bookseller standing behind the counter at Maneesh Book Shop, with shelves of school books behind him — Mukesh Shah behind the counter — Maneesh Book Shop

Visitors smiling inside Maneesh Book Shop beside shelves of books — Mukesh Shah behind the counter — Maneesh Book Shop

A nostalgic view of Maneesh Book Shop shelves beside the front window — Window shelves — Maneesh Book Shop

A nostalgic view down the Maneesh Book Shop aisle lined with books — Window shelves — Maneesh Book Shop

The shop

A small shop with a long memory.

For most of our history the work has been unglamorous and useful. Building libraries for schools. Stocking shelves for institutions. Tracking down the one edition a customer actually needed, and holding it behind the counter until they could come back for it.

That is where the judgement comes from. Four generations of watching which books people return to, which ones they lend out and never get back, and which ones simply sit on a shelf looking expensive.

A painted interpretation of the Maneesh Book Shop storefront

The turn

Then we started noticing where the books ended up.

Not on bedside tables — on reception counters, boardroom sideboards, hotel lobbies, architects' studios and the low table in a doctor's waiting room. Bought as much for the room as for the reading.

So we built a collection for exactly that. Large-format, well-printed, properly bound books on art, architecture, photography, food, craft and Indian heritage — the kind of volume someone picks up while they wait, and remembers afterwards.

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”

Cicero — taped inside our shop window for as long as anyone remembers

How we work

Curation, not a catalogue dump.

Every title on this site is one we hold and would recommend in person. The website is simply a faster way to show you the shelf.

Chosen by hand

We work closely with two of India's finest illustrated-book publishers, Roli Books and Mapin Publishing, and stock the titles that hold up in the hand — paper, binding, printing and all.

Books as objects

A coffee table book earns its place twice: once as something to read, and once as something that makes a room feel considered. We choose for both.

A conversation, not a checkout

Tell us the space, the budget and the occasion. We reply with a shortlist and a quote on WhatsApp — the same way we would if you had walked in and asked.

Maneesh Book Shop

Curated with Care.
Shared with Purpose.

Vadodara, Gujarat — four generations and counting.

Explore the collection Request a curation