Soviet Era Books - 02 / Folktales Of The British Isles / 1987

This is a classic example of the kind of affordable, solid, good quality reads that you sometimes got from the erstwhile U.S.S.R.

There were permanent bookshops dedicated to these books published in the Soviet Union (mainly Russia of course) at a few locations in Madras and temporary ones used to occasionally spring up at crowded spots like the bus stop opposite the Beach Station.

The choice of titles was usually a boring mix of politics, economics and biographies of Marx and Lenin and similar propaganda.

But if one visited these book stalls regularly and searched patiently, there were always rare treasures like this one to be found. The price of this beautifully illustrated, hard cover book with more than 50 stories + illustrations + a detailed treatise on the oral story telling traditions of the British Isles was Rs.18!