word of the day: samizdat

The word of the day is samizdat:

Etymology:  Russian, abbrev. of samoizdátel′stvo self-publishing house, < samo- self + izdátel′stvo publishing house. 

 

The clandestine or illegal copying and distribution of literature (orig. and chiefly in the U.S.S.R.); an ‘underground press’; a text or texts produced by this. (OED)

"Three years earlier, Roberts, David Shields, and a handful of others had founded the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation, to promote the study and production of heirloom grains.  But most of their research was still done in the margins of their academic work.  They circulated their findings samizdat fashion and passed around envelopes full of endangered seeds."

 - Burkhard Bilger, "True Grits: In Charleston, a quest to revive authentic Southern cooking", 31 October 2011 The New Yorker