WHO IS THIS COOMARASWAMY

Kuala Lampur: S. Durai Raja Singham, 1980. First edition. Paperback in near very good condition; and bumoing to corners and edges.. Limited to 200 copies, this one unnumbered; Essentailly a copy of Singam's scrapbook of images and letters related to Coomaraswamy; 10" x 7.25" paperback; 255 pages. "What might a man want to do after he has spent years working on Coomaraswamy — biography, bibliography, letters, tributes - or how does he answer a friend's question, 'What are you working on now?' The answer to this question is this book — the title of which is a question my four-year-old grandson, Chandra Mohan, often puts to me whilst I am doing some piece of Coomaraswamy writing. I play him the Coomaraswamy tape, the Dance of Shiva, but he is not satisfied. But when I show him several pictures from my Coomaraswamy Album he is happy, observant and puts me more questions. The portraits interest him, the several pictures of his books he counts and thus a half hour is spent in this manner. The thought struck me, how useful it would be to bring all these pictures within two covers and tell the life-story and work of Coomaraswamy. This would be something that would interest many not only students but grown-ups who might not know of Coomaraswamy. Like a film, this book of pictures with captions and sayings in word and image would supplement the growing Coomaraswamy literature adding further recognition to the unique status of the great man.