Four Continent Book Corporation
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Bookstore, Retail |
| Predecessor | Bookniga Corporation |
| Founded | 1935 |
| Defunct | 2000 |
| Fate | Closed |
| Headquarters | New York City , United States |
| Products | Russian-language books, Soviet literature |
Number of employees | 20 (at time of 1983 strike) |
Four Continent Book Corporation was a bookstore based in New York City that focused on Russian-language publications.
History
Initially established as the Bookniga Corporation, the store was located at 255 Fifth Avenue before relocating to 199 Fifth Avenue. Founded in 1935, its primary mission was to distribute Soviet literature within the United States. In 1939, three employees of Bookniga—Raphael Rush, Norman Weinberg, and Morris Liskin—were charged under the Foreign Agents Registration Act for neglecting to register as representatives of the Soviet firm Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga. Authorities alleged that these individuals sold materials intended for political and propagandistic purposes. By 1941, the company had rebranded as Four Continent Book Corporation while maintaining the same personnel and premises. The original president, B. Nikolsky, was succeeded by Cyril J. Lamkin, who subsequently relocated to Moscow. In 1948, Allan Markoff, sibling of Abraham Markoff, assumed the presidency.
Eda I. Glaser, a former United Nations employee, served as the corporation’s last president. In May 1953, she lost her $4,000-a-year position as a library clerk at the UN after refusing to respond to loyalty inquiries regarding her political views by investigators led by Dag Hammarskjöld. Glaser’s dismissal was among eleven similar terminations; although the UN Administrative Tribunal ordered compensation for these employees, Hammarskjöld declined to reinstate them.
During 1955, Four Continent was among four establishments investigated by the FBI concerning Soviet propaganda activities in America. The company reported that between 1946 and 1960 it imported books valued at approximately one million dollars. Due to its political associations and ties to the Soviet Union, the bookstore was subjected to multiple bombings. Notably, in 1976 a pipe bomb detonated inside the store, an act claimed by the Jewish Armed Resistance Strike Unit as retaliation for Soviet treatment of Jewish citizens. Another bombing occurred in 1981 and was attributed to a member of the Jewish Defense League demanding the release of Natan Sharansky.
Under Glaser’s leadership, the store specialized in early Soviet-era publications. In 1979, Four Continent employees initiated a strike that attracted negative media attention; coverage criticized Glaser for allegedly supporting Marxist literature while failing to advocate for her staff. After retiring from Four Continent, she volunteered at the New York Public Library. A subsequent strike took place in 1983 following the dismissal of twenty employees when the store transitioned to mail-order operations. That same year, ownership transferred to the Viktor Kamkin Bookstore, which continued running the business until closing its New York branch in 2000.