Twenty per cent. of the world production of books and other non-periodical publications during 1957 were issued in the Soviet Union, according to statistics released by U.N.E.S.C.O. This represents about 60,000 titles a year, of which roughly 45 per cent. are distributed free and 55 per cent. put on the market.
The list of authors most frequently translated in 1956 is headed by Lenin with 331 translations, a considerable way ahead of Jules Verne with only 143. Marx and Stalin, with RI and 73 translations respectively. come lower in the list, which, it must be observed. includes in the case of Russian authors translations into the many languages of the U.S.S.R.