“Children Literature” Publishing House established

“Treasures of Russian and foreign classics, folklore and literary heritage of the fraternal peoples of the Soviet country and the best works of contemporary writers - all of it should belong to small citizens of a socialist society, widen their spiritual horizons. "

From the decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks "On the publishing of children's literature”.

September 9, 1933, in accordance with a Decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks "On the publishing of children's literature" the largest specialized publishing house in USSR that issued books for children and adolescents – Detgiz was established on the basis of the children's sector of the  “Molodaya Gvardia” ("Young Guards") Publishing House and the school sector of the State Literary Publishing House.

In 1936 the Publishing House was given over under jurisdiction of the Komsomol Central Committee. It received the name of Detizdat (Children’s Publishing House) of Komsomol Central Committee. In May 1941 it already was under jurisdiction of Narkompros of RSFSR (RSFSR Ministry of Education) under the same name of Detgiz. In 1963 the Publishing House turned into subjection to the State Committee for Printing of the RSFSR, and became known as the "Children's Literature”.

M. Gorky, S. Marshak, K. Chukovsky, A. Gaidar took an active participation in the organization and work of the publishing house. The first editor in chief of the publishing house was Samuil Marshak, who united such authors as M. Ilyin, B. Zhitkov, Shklovskii S. Lurie, L. Panteleyev, D. Harms, A. Vvedensky, A. Tolstoy, E. Schwartz and others .

In 1933, during the first year of Detgiz operation, 168 titles of books with a circulation of 7 744 thousand copies were issued.

In 1930s Detgiz published such wonderful works of children's literature as "Uncle Stepan” (1936) by S. V. Mikhalkov with illustrations by A. Kanevsky; "Military Secret " (1935), " Chuk and Huck" (1938), "The fate of a drummer" (1939) and "Timur and His Team" (1939) by A. Gaidar, "Lone Sail Shows Up White" (1936) by V. Kataev; "What happened" (1939) by B. Zhitkov; N. Ostrovsky's novel “How the Steel Was Tempered" (1936). The following tales were issued for the first time: "The Golden Key, or Adventures of Pinocchio" (1935) by A. Tolstoy, "The Wizard of Emerald City" (1939) by A. Volkov, a collection "Malachite Box" (1939) by P. Bazhov, and others.

Later the publishing house released the scientific and artistic annuals and almanacs "Globe", "Ocean", "I want to know everything", "Cosmos", etc. A notable phenomenon of the cultural life of the country was the launch of the “Library of World Literature for Children" (1976-1987, 57 volumes).

After World War II, during the period from 1945 to 1963, circulation of books of the publishing house increased nearly 6 times compared to the prewar level. Only in the period from 1933 to 1970, 17 103 titles with a circulation of 2 645 000 copies were issued.

The Publishing House had been awarded not only at national and all-Union Book exhibitions, but also at international ones. In 1937 in Paris, the best editions of Detgiz were awarded the diploma "Grand Prix"; at the 1958 Brussels exhibition - a gold medal; at the exhibition of the art of book in Leipzig in 1979 - the diploma "Golden Letter of beautiful book”; in 1982 it received awards at the international book exhibition in Bratislava. In 1996 at the Russian International Book Fair the Publishing House was awarded with the diploma of Ist degree. In 1999 the Publishing House became a prize-winner of the International Competition "Classics of the Russian literature in modern editions for children": "School Library” series was awarded a Diploma of II degree for the “Best Publishing conception and its implementation".

In 2006 the Publishing House received a diploma for the best publication that promotes the spiritual education of children and youth at the competition of the Publishers Association (ASKI) "Best Books of the Year" for the series "School Library", and in 2007 "Lessons Unlearned" by T. Kryukova, issued by the Publishing House, won the first prize of the All-Russian competition for the best children's and youth book "Scarlet Sails".

Lit.: Детгиз [Электронный ресурс]. URL: https://detgiz.spb.ru/ .