Planeta

a publishing house of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on Publishing, Printing, and the Book Trade and the Journalists’ Union of the USSR. It is located in Moscow.

Planeta was formed in 1969 by uniting the Orbit Arts Association of the Union of Journalists of the USSR and the editorial staff for photographic editions of the Sovetskii Khudozhnik Publishing House. By means of photographic artistry, Planeta propagandizes the achievements of the USSR and other socialist countries in economics, science, and culture; the Soviet way of life; and the struggle of peoples for peace and national independence. It publishes picture books, postcards, portraits, booklets, and montages; it also publishes the journal Sovetskoe foto. Between 1969 and 1973, Planeta published approximately 100 picture books, many of which have received awards at nationwide competitions. A ward-winning books include V. I. Lenin, The Soviet Union, Moscow, The Volcanoes of Kamchatka, The Komandorskie Islands, and Lake Baikal. In 1973 at the world competition for the most beautiful book, held in Berlin, the book Moscow won the gold medal, and The Komandorskie Islands the bronze medal.