Reports Indicate the World Cup Boosted Book Sales for Traditional Russian Titles

The World Cup that concluded with France victorious on July 15 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow has resulted in a significant increase of interest from foreigners in Russian literature, according to comments from government officials and some book industry players.
According to state statistics, more than 1 million foreign tourists and football fans visited Russia in the first two months of this summer, contributing a growth in book sales reported to be almost 50 percent higher than were seen in the same timeframe of 2017. The purchases behind the big boost are being attributed to those international visitors.
At the bookstore chain Moscow House of Books, Nadezhda Mikhailova tells Publishing Perspectives that the biggest demand among international tourists was for classic Russian literature, but requests for contemporary Russian content was negligible.

The 2016 50th anniversary edition of Pevear and Volokhonsky translation of Bulgakov

Mikhailova says the single modern-era author who proved to be an exception was Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940). Sales of  his books have jumped, she says, by close to 30 percent since May.
Booksellers queried say that of Bulgakov’s books, English translations of The Master and Margarita were the bestselling volumes among international visitors during the World Cup. [Editor’s note: translators into English of Bulgakov’s best-read title include Diana Burgin and Mirra Ginsburg, and–in a 2016 50th anniversary edition from Penguin–a newly redesigned edition of the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation with illustration from Christopher Conn Askew.]
At the same time, booksellers report, translations of The Master and Margarita were also heavily requesed in Spanish, Italian, German and other languages. One other title is being mentioned from the modern era, Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago (1957). ... [mehr] https://publishingperspectives.com/2018/08/reports-world-cup-boosted-book-sales-traditional-russian-titles/