Gorbunov-Posadov, Ivan

(pseudonym of I. I. Gorbunov). Born Apr. 4 (16), 1864, in Kolpino, near St. Petersburg; died Feb. 12, 1940, in Moscow. Russian educator, publicist, and publisher.

In 1897, Gorbunov-Posadov became permanent director of the Posrednik Publishing House, which had been founded on the initiative of L. N. Tolstoy and published books primarily for popular reading and self-education (for example, the series Library for Children and Youth and Calendar for Everyone). His Picture Alphabet (1889) and numerous collections of stories and poems were very popular. Gorbunov-Posadov was an advocate of so-called free education. From 1907 to 1918 he edited the radical pedagogical journal Svobodnoe vospitanie. After the October Revolution, he continued to direct the publishing house (until 1925) and worked in the area of juvenile literature and pedagogy.