The 44 American books, which included works an Nazism and anti-Semitism, that were confiscated by Soviet authorities at the Moscow Book Fair last month are now on display among books from 80 other countries at the Frankfurt Book Fair which opened yesterday. Each of the American books is on display in individual publisher’s stands with a “Banned at the Moscow Book Fair” streamer.
According to Lawrence Hughes, president of William Morrow and Company, and chairman of the International Freedom to Publish Committee of the Association of American Publishers, this approach was decided upon by the Committee “to dramatize the problems faced by American publishers who sought to represent their authors and books under the restrictive and arbitrary rules in effect at the Moscow Book Fair.”
Among the 44 books on display at the Frankfurt fair are: “Adolph Hitler, ” by John Toland, Ballantine Books; “Holocaust Years: Society on Trial, ” by Roselle Chertokh and Jack Spencer, Bantam Books; “Modem Jewish History, ” by Robert and Raphael Chazin, Schocken Books; “To Dance: The Autobiography of Valery Panov, ” by Valery Panov, Alfred A. Knopf; “My Country, ” by Abba Eban, Random House, and “The Face of the Third Reich: Portraits of the Nazi Leadership, ” by Joachim Fest, Pantheon Books.
Meanwhile, Israeli and Egyptian book publishing delegations at the Frankfurt Fair are extremely friendly towards each other. A spokesman for the Israeli delegation said five sets of the Encyclopedia Judaica published by the Keter Publishing House in Jerusalem were sold to the Egyptians and that Israel plans to print in Jerusalem in Arabic some old favorites for the Egyptian market. These will include, “The Hound of the Baskervilles” and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
The Israelis hope to acquire books from Egypt dealing with the daily life of children there in order for Israeli children to become acquainted with their Arab neighbor.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
