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| 2013: Butterflies (Design - Richard Lewington) |
The Mabled White butterfly has a preference for purple flowers but this stamp is pure black and white. Poets have long written of the wonder of butterflies and
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| 2020: Romantic Poets (Design - The Chase; Illustrator - Linda Farquarson) |
John Clare wrote at least two about the "Queen of insects" but for the stamp we have two lines that probably sum Clare up "For every thing I felt a love/ The weeds below the birds above". He also came up with one of my favourite quotes "I found the poems in the field and only wrote them down". The other stamp features one of the Lakes poets - Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his Frost at Midnight. Apart from his renown as a poet he is also famous for being the first 'outsider' to climb England's highest mountain Scafell Pike and it turned out to be quite a hairy experience.
For the stamp subject the design company The Chase were given a list of poets and the two lines to use on the stamps. They turned to print maker Linda Farquarson for the black and white linocut illustrations which she made the actual size of the stamp using traditional letter-pressing. The type is Caslon Old Style invented by the 18th Century British engraver William Caslon which would have been a style used in the poetry books of the day.
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| 1976 William Caxton - 500th Anniversary of British Printing (Design - Richard Gay) |
One of the first books William Caxton published in 1477 was Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and he went on to to publish more of Chaucer's collections of poetry. The Canterbury Tales is featured on one of the other stamps in the set but the stamp above is the only one that is black and white and is a woodcut from 'The Game and Playe of Chesse'. Few things are more black and white than chess.
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| Coleridge and Scafell on 'Romantic Poets' FDC |
Sunday Stamps II theme this week is - Black and White - at See It On A Postcard.
5 comments:
I have read some Coleridge but not Frost at Midnight! Thank you for sharing.
Love the Romantic Poets stamps. So much detail that went into their creation.
I also love the recent Romantic Poets designs - fresh and modern.
And the butterfly is stunning.
The stamps in my post relate to something that wouldn't have been possible without William Caxton's invention.
I got that blue Canterbury Tales stamps, but I didn't know there was a series.
I haven't read English Romantic poets (apart form some poems), but the design of that set is really nice. I also got one of those on a letter :D
That marbled white is magnificent. John Clare is a particular favourite of mine. Imissed out on the romantic poet series and many others now that we do not have a major PO near us.
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