Konrad Prószyński

Konrad Prószyński (19 February 1851 – 8 July 1908), pen name , was a Polish writer and editor from the Russian Empire. He was the author of primers (textbooks), editor-in-chief of Gazeta Świąteczna (Holiday Gazette); the founder of secret Society for National Education (Towarzystwo Oświaty Narodowej) under foreign Partitions, and the author of well received Pictorial Literacy primer. He was father of a Polish inventor Kazimierz Prószyński.

Career Prószyński began teaching at the age of 23. In the summer of 1874 he set up a study course for illiterate adults around Kałuszyn and Mrozów villages in Masovia. In 1875, he published his first folding poster to be used by students as the on-the-wall primer. It was his first great publishing success, printed in 5,000 copies and sold out in less than a month. It was reprinted again, this time with 15,000 copies in country-wide circulation. He signed his publications with a literary pseudonym (a ray of light). printed in more than a million copies in the next 33 years. Also in 1875, he wrote (On Father Stanisław Staszic) whose experience inspired him; as well as his next educational volume: "Pierwsza książeczka dla wprawy w czytaniu" (First Book for Practice in Reading, 1875).

His publications became a financial downpour for his publisher, but not for Prószyński who received little royalty. He decided to print and distribute his works by himself. In 1878 he formally registered his own publishing company called Konrad Prószyński National Bookstore . This step turned into the journey of a lifetime combining a publishing venue with a mail-order service. Thanks to prior contacts established for the distribution of primers, the Gazette was sent as far as North and South America, as well as Africa and Asia. Prószyński died in 1908, three years after the Polish Revolution of 1905. He was buried at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw. His tombstone is adorned with the sculpture by Czesław Makowski. The Holiday Gazette (Holiday Newspaper) kept on publishing thanks to his family until September 1939.