"A couple of decades ago Soviet people were regarded as the most reading all over the world. Inexorable statistics confirmed this fact. Frankly speaking, that was true: in parks, underground stations or buses one could come across people reading newspapers, books and magazines. The book used to be a precious object providing information and cherishing imagination and thoughts of wonderful future or past. Surely, not all works of art were sold in Soviet bookshops; many didn’t happen to pass the censor and were distributed secretly and illegally. To own a rare book meant much then, that is why almost every family tried to collect a home library (classic literature prevailed on shelves). "

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