History
The journey of Lawyer’s Book Stall started in the 1920s, in a small town called Nalbari in Assam, when Bichitranarayan Dutta Borooah started Dutta Borooah Brothers & Co and Uma Press along with his elder brother Harinarayan Dutta Borooah. The two brothers pioneered the compilation and publication of Vaishnavite literature in Assamese through their ventures; they filled a major void that existed in the archiving and promotion of Assamese literature and cultural heritage. Both brothers were also school teachers and founded the Debiram High School in Nalbari in memory of their late father. Ultimately, while Harinarayan went on to become a nationally acclaimed writer and publisher of Vaishnavite literature, Bichitranarayan became a practicing lawyer who would leave his practice and establish Lawyer’s Book Stall (LBS) in the late 1930s with patriotic zeal – in 1942, Lawyer’s moved to its current location and embarked on a journey to become the leading book publisher of undivided Assam.
Contrary to the unusual nomenclature for a publishing house (which actually means book shop of a Lawyer), Lawyer’s continues to publish books covering a wide range of genres. Roughly three decades after its inception, the mantle of Lawyer’s was passed on to Khagendranarayan Dutta Baruah (son of Bichitranarayan), who was celebrated for grooming new writers and creating a platform for new ideas and preservation of rare works, without caring for business profits. Khagendranarayan’s influence among Assamese readers was bolstered by the fact that he was a renowned translator of literature from Bengali to Assamese, a compiler of children’s literature, and a lexicographer. The Federation of Indian publishers recognised Khagendranarayan’s contributions to the industry when they felicitated him with the Distinguished Publisher award in the early nineties.
In the 1970’s Khagendranarayan officially founded LBS Publications and in 2003, Lawyer’s Book Stall was converted into a unit of this younger organisation.
Activities
Besides our core business of book publishing, the activities of the house of LBS include the following:
Book retail and Services to Libraries
Our Bookstore, Lawyer’s Book Stall is a prominent city landmark of Guwahati. We retail books across genres, with special sections on legal literature and books on Assam and Northeast India.
LBS supplies books to educational institutions and libraries across Northeast India. We can also offer consultancy in setting up digital libraries and creating e-portals.
Joint Publication Projects with Governments and Semi-Government Institutions
We offer end-to-end publishing services to governments and institutional clients. From conception, content generation, production to selling, our publishing services take t he trouble and confusion away from our clients to give them a product of their choice. We also incorporate our imprint and ISBN number for listing the publications in across platforms.
Notable clients that have worked with us to produce high-end publications are: Govt. of Nagaland, Govt. of Assam, Bodoland Territorial Council etc.
Turnkey Publication Projects related to Tourism and Culture
We create high-end materials for the promotion of sectors like Tourism, Art & Culture, Industries etc, on a turnkey basis. Our expert team of travel professionals, writers and photographers undertake thorough studies of the subject, make field visits and generate new ideas and content in constant consultation with our clients, in order to produce high impact promotional materials.
Book publishing
In its history of over 75 years, we have achieved milestones and unfathomed goodwill in the book publishing sector of Northeast India due to our continuous efforts to establish new writers and off-beat publishing portfolio.
Publishing Imprints
Lawyer’s
for publications in the Assamese language
LBS
for publications in the English language, and Dictionaries
Red River
for coffee table and pictorial publications
School Mentor
for publications relevant for school students and quality text-cum-guides up to the 12th standard