First book in Latin script 'sold like hotcakes'

The first book published in Moldova in the Latin script was a primer called “De Ce si ABC” (loosely translated as “Why and ABC”) co-authored by Valentina Lungu and Sergiu Puica. The book appeared in 10,000 copies in June 1989, during the national liberation movement, and sold “like hotcakes” from the first day, publisher Anatol Vidrascu told Info-Prim Neo. Anatol Vidrascu, the director of the publishing group Litera, says that there was a great thirst for books back then and it wasn't a surprise that the primer was bought, among others, by older people, the intellectuals. He says that there weren't major problems with publishing the book, even if it appeared before the formal shift to the Latin script and despite remnants of Soviet-era censorship. The ABC was followed by a collection of old Orthodox icons, which had been very scarce in the socialist republic of Moldova. “People would cut out these images to paste them on boards and make icons for their homes”, recounts Vidrascu. Then Litera published volumes of Mihai Eminescu, Nicolae Iorga, Vasile Alecsandri and other greats. The publishing house Litera was founded on 3 May 1989.