Blacktop Buccaneers

Praveen Kumar, a stout, shabby-looking bookseller who squats next to his wares in a dingy corner of New Delhi's Connaught Place, prides himself on giving customers hefty discounts on their favorite British and American best sellers. The 45-year-old former bookbinder peddles American author Irving Wallace's The Fan Club for 110 rupees ($2.40), about 15% less than the publisher's recommended price. Of course, Kumar adds with a sigh, that's nothing compared with the discounts he offered in the good old days, before India's recent crackdown on pirated books. Kumar previously ran off dozens of copies of Wallace's novel at a friend's printing...