Alexandr Petrovich Apsit grew up amidst dire poverty and yet he received free instruction under the tutelage of the Saint-Petersburg painter, Lev Dmitriev-Kavkazskii.  By 1902, Apsit was noticed by the popular journals, including Rodina [Motherland], Zvezda [Star], and Niva, for which he produced sketches. He also illustrated the publications of writings by A.M. Gorkii, N.S. Leskov, and A.P. Chekhov, as well as those by D. Bedny, I.S. Nikritin, and M.E. S...

Gosizdat was established in Moscow in May 1919 via the merger of the publishing departments of VTsIK (All-Russian Central Executive Committee), the Moscow Soviet, the Petrograd (St. Petersburg) Soviet, the People's Commissariat of the RSFSR, and others. Gosizdat was the first large-scale, state-controlled publisher formed with the purpose of joining the nation's printing and publishing entities under a single institution. While it existed somewhat independent of the government, by 1930 Gosizdat served as the base for the ...