This book collector owns some of the rarest and oldest books in the world

Jai Shankar has a huge collection of priceless books covering various genres. Photo: The Star/Faihan Ghani

If you were looking for a rare book on Malaysiana, you might find it sitting on the shelf in S. Jai Shankar’s home library.

The officer at Matrade (Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation), Kuala Lumpur, owns approximately 8,000 books! Most of the titles are nonfiction, with almost a quarter of them related to Malaysia.