Censorship in the USSR: A Collection of Items.

These are rare, restricted documents.

In response to the evolving political landscape, the Soviet government initiated the mass destruction of pre-revolutionary and foreign books and journals from libraries and bookstores. 'Incorrect' books by Soviet writers also vanished under the orders of the official censorship and state security agency, the General Directorate for the Protection of State Secrets in the Press under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (Glavlit). In libraries, banned books containing outdated or politically incorrect material were either physically destroyed or placed in 'special collections' (spetskhran), accessible only to a very restricted number of individuals with special permits granted by the KGB. The largest spetskhran, located in the Russian State Library, was only closed down in 1988, leading to the formation of the Department of Russian Émigré Literature.

This collection includes documents from Perm libraries marked 'For Official Use Only':

1. Two lists of rejected books:
- Part I. Moscow, 1960. 135 pp. Copy No 222 177. 'Sent out according to the special list'.
- Part II. Moscow, 1988. 27, [1] pp. One of 350 copies printed. Issued without a title page.

Both are in their original wrappers and in good condition, with minor spine damage and some wear to covers.

2. Orders and certificates:
- [Perm], 1976–1987. 8, [2] pp. + 18 leaves.

In good condition, with folding and slight wear to edges.

According to these documents, all books by the following authors were completely removed from library shelves: Viktor Nekrasov, Vasily Aksyonov, Vladimir Voinovich, Anatoly Kuznetsov, Alexander Galich, Anatoly Gladilin, and theater director Yuri Lyubimov. These authors, known as 'nonreturnees', emigrated and refused to return to the USSR.