The envelope with an original stamp with the image of a naturalist writer, author of books about nature for children, a member of the Russian Geographical Society Vitaly Bianki (1894−1959) came into circulation on February 11. The release of the envelope is dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the birth of the classic.
The original stamp depicts a portrait of the writer on the background of the desktop, and an open book with the works of the writer and his heroes is in the main illustration. The circulation of postal products amounted to 1 million copies.
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Vitaly Bianki was born in the family of an ornithologist scientist, curator of the Zoological Museum of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, Russified Italian Valentine Bianki in St. Petersburg on 11 February 1894. He graduated from the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the university, and later additionally studied at the Institute of Art History. But the main sphere of his interests was the world of animals, the forest and its inhabitants
His life can hardly be called easy, but rather, it looked like a kaleidoscope, the color palette of which is extensive and diverse. Participation in the Socialist Revolutionary movement, service in the army of Admiral Kolchak, repeated deportations and arrests, prolonged illness - all these points are noted in the biography of the writer. But, despite the difficulties, most of his activities he devoted to the study of wildlife. Bianki lived in Biisk in the Altai Territory, where he taught biology at school and worked in the local history museum in the early 1920s. He actively participated in the work of the Biysk Society of nature lovers there, lectured on ornithology at the Altai Narodny University, organized two scientific expeditions to Lake Teletskoye. And he returned with his family to Petrograd in 1922.
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The love to observing nature of the future writer was instilled him by his father in childhood. He recorded impressions and observations of the life of taiga inhabitatnts since his youth. At first, these records were in the drawer of a desk for a long time. However, a few years later, they became the basis of fascinating stories and tales about the natural world and its inhabitants.
Vitaly Bianki wrote more than 300 stories, fairy tales and novels. Among his works are "Anyutkina's Duck", "Mousekin Peak", "Titmouse's Calendar", "How an Ant Hurried Home", "First Hunt", "Red Hill" and others.
One of the brightest books of Bianki was "Forest Newspaper For Every Year." It consists of 12 editions and it is a kind of desktop calendar of nature, designed for independent observations throughout the year. There were published notes, telegrams, announcements, stories about birds, animals and insects. In addition, after the Great Patriotic War, the writer organized a kids club of nature lovers in Leningrad, which was called the "Columbus Club".
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Vitaly Bianki wrote works not only for children. His books for adults "The End of the Earth" and "Birds of the World" were published in the 1930s, and one of Bianki’s most famous stories "Odinets" was completed.
Vitaly Bianki wrote in the preface to one of his works shortly before his death: “I always tried to write my fairy tales and stories so that they were accessible to adults as well. Now I realized that all my life I had written for adults who had kept the child in their hearts” .
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Vitaly Bianki died at the age of 62 years in Leningrad on 10 June 1956. Today his name is given to the Biysk Regional Museum. The first municipal protected area in Russia "Polana Bianki" ("Bianki's Glade") natural landscape was created in the coastal strip of the Gulf of Finland in the territory of the village of Lebyazhye in 2008.
The Russian Geographical Society together with the Federal Communications Agency publish “geographic” postage marks - postcards, envelopes and stamps. Postal and souvenir products of the "Marka" Joint-Stock Company, including an envelope with the image of Vitaly Bianki, can be purchased at the Post of Russia branches, as well as in the branch office of the company - the "Collector" Salon (Moscow, Prospekt Mira, 118).