Typolithography of Geokartprom of the V.T.U. (Military Topographic Directorate of the Soviet Army), Moscow

Типо-Литография Геокартпрома В.Т.У. (Военно-топографическое управление), Москва

In 1918, the Soviets nationalized the Moscow printing works of brothers Wilhelm Theodor Mehnert and Herman Julius Mehnert at 9 Bol'shaia Polianka (later named Soviet Street). The building housing the printer was first occupied by the Julius Kirsten printing firm. Upon its nationalization, the Soviets placed Mehnert printing under Geokartprom, a State-owed trust of the Commissariat of Defense that centralized government-mapping projects. Geokartprom printed atlases and maps solely for military and government use. While it did map geographic locations within the Soviet Union, it also carried out an enormous mapping project of cities throughout the world. In the 1920s, Geokartprom typolithography in Moscow was named in honor of the Bolshevik leader Evlampii Dunaev (1877-1919).

PP 339: March 8th [International Women's Day], a day of celebration of the fighting forces of the working women and peasants of all countries.

PP 434: Woman Worker be at the forefront of the builders of socialism.
Heighten your literacy and culture.
Increase your qualifications. Remake your life.
Put forward a new group of builders for socialist industry.

PP 597: About Revitalized Icons and about how a Building Manager Revitalizes Ever-Active Priests
[On top left]
Three peasant spiders are gathered
to warm themselves and to treat
their bones to steam around
a huge samovar.
You will recognize all of them
when you look. All of them are your friends,

PP 774: [On the top]
The place where cooperation is not respected
[On the bottom]
The place where cooperation works.

PP 861: Lenin and the Peasantry.
“The industrious peasant is a central figure in our economic development.” – Lenin
[Partial translation]

PP 960: Sibkraiizdat.
Uncle Mitrii, Uncle Vlas,
The bookshelf is for you,
so that you can live better,
you should buy books here.
Books give us knowledge,
with a book, work is easier.

PP 1055: The shopkeeper is a big fraud.
A cooperative equals shares.
Bring shares to the cooperative!

Sources & Citations

Drozdov, D.P. (2021). Bol’shaia Polianka: progulka po Zamoskvorech’iu ot malogo kamennogo mosta do serpukhovskoi ploshchadi istoria starinnoi ulitsy ot doma k domu. Moscow: Tsentroligraf. (General history of Bol’shaia Polianka with Menert Brothers cited)
Davies, J., & Kent, A. J. (2017). The Red Atlas: How the Soviet Union secretly mapped the world. Chicago: Univ of Chicago Press. (VTU, pp. 9, 11, 28)
Monmonier, M. (2015). Cartography in the Twentieth Century, Vol. 6. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Menert, p. 934)
wikimapia.org (building of Menert- location and history)
Glavnoe upravlenie geodezii i kartografii pri Sovete ministrov SSSR; Voyenno-topograficheskaia sluzhba sovetskoi armii. (1967). 50 let sovetskoi geodezii i kartografii. Moskva: Izdatel’stvo Nedra. (general history of V.T.U., p. 10)