Soviet Books

I grew up reading Soviet books and like all the kids who read them back in their childhoods I became their die hard fan and a worshiper. School life was dominate by Denis and Baba-Yaga and college days were accompanied by Turgenev. Later Gorky, Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky attained a godlike status and became an integral part of the library.

For those who are not aware of the Soviet Books cult, here is a small briefing:

USSR govt commissioned publishing of their leading authors' works through state owned agencies. Political, propaganda, fiction, non-fiction, science and children literature were translated in international and national languages and shipped back to different countries. These books were printed on exceptionally high quality paper (which till date shines like a brand new paper) and had superb paintings, sketched and illustrations. To beat it all they were sold at dirt dirt dirt cheap prices! There were importers and distributions houses in India ( run by Communist party) who made the sale really easier by setting up permanent shops and periodic exhibitions. 

These books formed an inseparable part of childhood for few including me. However after the collpase of Soviet Union love story ended abruptly and influx of the books stopped.

There were some books which were special par excellence. Some of them were 'Russian Folk Tales', ' Tales of Denis' and 'Three Love Stories ( I Turgenev). I will dedicate a blog post each for such books. 

Sadly my father had acquired very few books till the time of collapse of USSR, and later on we had to rely of leftover stock in book shops and then solely on old and secondhand book store. However the love turned into an obsession and I started hunting them even ferociously. I started visiting the book stores in cities like Delhi, Chandigarh etc which stocked such books and scoured for the remainders. (More account of each of such hunting trips will follow soon.) 

Also I remember some magazines like 'Sputnik','Soviet Land' etc. They are really fun to read. Lately I found about a magazine called 'Misha', which I had never come across. Wish I could get some copies of them.

Please also check blogs of other Soviet Books collectors, who I guess are even crazier than me -

http://sovietbooks.wordpress.com/

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