Sales at the Ekushey Grantha Mela reached Tk 800 million (80 crore) smashing the previous record as the bonanza concluded on Saturday, said a senior official.
Director general of Bangla Academy Dr. Habibullah Siraji said this year's sales are 10 per cent higher than the last year's edition.
Dr. Jalal Ahmed, a director of the Academy and member-secretary of the fair organising committee, told the FE that this year's sales could be as high as Tk 800 million.
Sales of books at the fair amounted to Tk 754 million, Tk 654 million, Tk 405 million and Tk 219.5 million in 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 respectively, according to figures available with the Academy.
This year, a total of 4,834 new books arrived at the fair.
A large number of book lovers and visitors of all ages thronged the Bangla Academy premises and its adjacent Suhrawardy Udyan on the last day of the fair as the last chance to buy books of their choice.
Book sellers were also seen busy selling books at the stalls and most of the visitors returned home carrying their favorite books in their hands.
Rashed Priyo, a college student, said that he could not visit the fair earlier and so he came to the fair on the last day to buy her favourite books. The book fair was crowded and noisy, he added.
On February 28, Bangla Academy arranged the concluding ceremony of the fair.
Professor Anisuzzaman, President of Bangla Academy, presided over the function.
State minister for cultural affairs K.M. Khalid was the chief guest and its secretary in charge Dr. Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal was the special guest.
Elias Kanchon, chairman of Nirapod Media, Habibullah Siraji, director general of Bangla Academy and Dr. Jalal Ahmed of the Academy were also present at the ceremony.
This year, around 770 units have been allocated to 499 publishing houses and organisations to sell and exhibit their books and publications.
Besides, 24 pavilions have been also allocated to the publishing houses and 155 stalls allocated to180 little magazines.
The stalls for the mainstream publishing houses have been placed inside the Suhrawardy Udyan while the government organisations and the Bangla Academy set up their stalls inside Bangla Academy compound like previous years.
This year, the authority extended the month-long book fair by two days.
The fair started from February 01 and it was open to visitors from 3:00pm to 9:00pm. On holidays it remained open from 11:00am to 9:00pm.
