This volume is not be confused with the original Portable Russian Reader (VPL No. 23), edited by Bernard Gilbert Guerney and first published in 1946. The single volume version was effectively replaced by this volume and the Portable 20th Century Russian Reader (VPL No. 100)(qv), the latter originally published in 1985 and edited by Clarence Brown. Shortly after the publication of this volume, Viking's original system of numbering, which had been in effect since 1946, was abandoned altogether by Penguin.