Stories

 

1997: Europa - Tales and Legends

The Fisherman and his Wife - a fairy story collected by the Brothers Grimm

Rubezahl, a mountain dweller and  subject of many legends in Germany and Eastern Europe

2006: Animal Tales

Favourite children's book animals:- Roald Dahl;s 'The Enormous Crocodile'; Michael Bond's Paddington Bear. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, where a very tiny Caterpillar  consumes many types of foods before eventually turning into a butterfly. It seems it has taken two circular chunks out of the stamp on the journey. Lastly learn the alphabet with Maisy Mouse's ABC here she is dressing up as a Queen but her adventures include balancing on an Elephant's trunk and flying a Kite. The interactive book is by Lucy Cousins.

Sunday Stamps theme - Children's Books - See It On A Postcard 

Past Stations

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt - Architecture - Stations (train, bus or airport) 

Liverpool Exchange opened in May 1850. it had five platforms with an overall roof for "the comfort of passengers"  By the 1870s traffic had increased so much it was eventually expanded in 1888 and opened in its new form. Exchange consisted of this grand hotel frontage behind which was a covered cab road, further buildings provided offices, booking and waiting facilities. It now had 10 platform faces protected by gabled roofs. The station closed in 1977 and trains were diverted to the new underground link line. The card was sent in 1903.

In contrast - Redmire Station in the snow.  Once the terminus of the Wensleydale Railway, unfortunately the track has deteriorated and at the moment the platform and car park are being used as en engineering base to re-lay the line The station building (once the station masters house, booking hall and waiting room) has been owned by the 2nd Acomb Scouts Group since 1988 taking the name of Redmire Station House Activity Centre, a hostel for use by families and youth groups with cycling and walking routes straight from the door into the Yorkshire Dales. 

Broad Gauge engine in Bristol's old Temple Meads Station. Brunel's Great Western Railway was built using broad gauge which would lead to the Gauge Wars as the rest of Britain largely adopted standard gauge. The tracks at Temple Mead were then converted to mixed gauge. The postcard artist John G Norris shows Post Office Station Staff transferring mail at Bristol Old Temple Mead Station around 1892.

 

As an added bonus there is a special cancel for the departure of the Orient Express from Temple Meads Station in 1985 as part of the Great Western Railway's 150th anniversary celebrations

Waves

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt for Shapes that are  Wavy or Irregular

Artist - Gisbert Combaz

A lithograph used for an advertising poster in 1899 by  La Libre Esthétique (an artistic society formed in Brussels)  whose yearly exhibitions ran from 1894-1914.  Happily this design contains both wavy lines and irregular shapes.

"The Turbulent Sea"

Whereas these are shape shifting waves

Floating by Vasily Kandinsky (1924) Watercolour and indian ink on paper

Kandinsky experienced synesthesia, where hearing sounds caused him to visually associate and see colours and shapes. He considered music as the ultimate abstract art, dark blue for him was something deep and resonant like a cello or double bass. He often categorised his paintings in musical terms as either  Impressions, Improvisations or Compositions.

Forest

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is in a Forest

The aunties welcoming the spring and enjoying the sun as much as the wood anemones in a woodland clearing. In old Scots this would be called a spinkie-den which is a woodland clearing full of flowers. I am sure the Finns have a name for it too.

 An early morning mist rising from a forest in North Kerala where I have been told there are bears.

 Moors and mist come together on Rievaulx Moor, North Yorkshire. It will be blue skies everywhere at the moment as we are in the middle of a heat wave.  The Forestry Commission car parking area serves as a start point for walks or just head up on the easy access track to reach the the whitewashed trig point which marks the 328m top and a reward of its 360 degree panoramic view.

Queen

1990: Greeting Stamps - Smiles

Queen of Hearts by Colin Elgie.

1991: Europa - Europe in Space

In August 1846 Queen Victoria was the first monarch to visit Guernsey. The attention of European astronomers, and no doubt Price Albert, was on the hunt for a previously unknown eighth planet, in fact this planet, later named Neptune, was seen twice in August but mistaken for a star and was not identified as a planet until September 1846.

2020: Queen

Queen Live - Freddy Mercury at Wembley Stadium, 1986; Roger Taylor at Queen's free London concert, 1976; The full band photographed at Primrose Hill, 1974; John Deacon at the Hammersmith Odeon, 1975 and Brian May at Nepstadion,Budapest, 1986

Sunday Stamps A-Z and here at Q for Queen - See It On A Postcard  

Purple

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking for purple

1935: Silver Jubilee

One of the extensive George V Omnibus editions of a common design celebrating his Silver Jubilee.  Issued May 1935 in Great Britain and spanning across her 54 colonies and four dominions coming to a total of 249 stamps. Collectors of these sets enjoy finding printing errors and  varieties such as extra flag poles.

On the card the fish basket is deep purple as is the clothing on the arm upper left. The card is of Scots College in Rome a seminary for the priesthood for the dioceses of the Catholic Church in Scotland. There are 20 stained glass windows created by Giovanni D'Aloisio. The one shown is behind the altar although the postcard cuts off the whole scene which includes the fishing boat. The full version can be seen on the header of Scots college's Facebook page. On the right is the miraculous catch of fish, the disciples are called to become fishers of men. On the left it says Ecce Agnus Dei - Behold the Son of God. The photo on upper left is of the Theological Library

How Green

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt in Spring colours - Green

Le Chambre D'Écoute - The Listening Room - René Magritte (1958)

There are two versions of The Listening Room by René Magritte, the green apple remains the same but in different rooms. In the 1952 version the room has a wooden floor and a glass window with a white surround. As can be seen in 1958 the room is now grey brick with an arched open-air window.

 The Slow Martch Tree (Careya arborea), native to the Indian subcontinent and Indochina, also known as wild guava. The fruit is edible but the seeds are poisonous. Many parts of the tree are used in  herbal remedies.

Settle-Carlisle Line Card No 57

A veteran class 40 locomotive crossing Arten Gill viaduct in Dentdale. It will be green all the way on this line. 

Yellow

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt for a spring and one of the colours that mark its arrival, Yellow

Bamforth's 'Tempest Kiddy' Series No 472 (Illustrator Douglas Tempest)

"Here's a spot of Good Luck ... A Double Dose for You" 

 A card sent in 1934 from 'Grandma', who was visiting the seaside resort of Blackpool, to Alison in Cheshire.

"In the Car" - Roy Lichtenstein

Fast forward to 1963 and fast cars, a Hitchcock blond  in the driving seat and her squared jawed companion. This large Lichtenstein painting is based on the comic book series 'Girls Romances'. (The original story graphic revealed -  Tony Abruzzo panel with speech bubble.)

SVR Poster Series No 6 - Kidderminster (Artist - Alan Reade)

A world away is The Falling Sands Viaduct carrying the Severn Valley Railway over the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal whose bridge has the more parochial name of Bridge Number 16.

Petite Pink

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is celebrating the colours of Spring starting with Pink

A Flower Fairy Alphabet by Cicely Mary Barker

The Mallow Fairy will have to wait a couple of months for Mallows to flower but once they do they will be everywhere and the fairy will have long months to fly amongst them. 

The story is that wherever and whenever a seed sprouts a Flower Fairy is born, as the plant grows, the fairy grows. 

Peruvian Lilly - New York Botanical Gardens

The Peruvian Lilly has been grown in many gardens away from its South American homeland

A pink eared bunny for Easter Week

Small Animals

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt for Young Animals 

Something is mesmerising these three fluffy balls of mischief or maybe they just like having their photograph taken.

A Blustery Day in the Hundred Acre Wood . I think Piglet may not be able to keep his little feet on the ground but it will be a day of great adventure and mild peril for Pooh Bear and friends.

Hungarian Horses

 

1959: 24th World Fencing Championships, Budapest

The World Fencing championships does not feature horses but Hungarian hussars with their flamboyant uniforms had the reputation of being the most daring light cavalry in Europe so the romance of history rather than the actuality means that they make more than one appearance in this Fencing set. The stamp features a 19th Century cavalryman.

1960: Summer Olympic Games, Rome

A Greek horseman. Like the Romans the Greeks had chariot races but unlike the Romans they rode bareback and were very keen on horse racing. The race events always began with a formal procession into the hippodrome.

1973: Hungarian Medal Winners, Olympic Games, Munich

András Balczó won the Modern Pentathlon Gold Medal, the event includes show jumping on an unfamiliar horse. This accomplished  athlete was voted Hungarian Sportsman of the year three times.

1979: Animal Paintings

 "Child with Horse and Greyhounds" by Janos Vaszary (1867-1939). Although his artistic style altered over the years intimate portrayals of animals continued to appear in his paintings.

Sunday Stamps A-Z - H for Hungary, Horses and Hussars - hop over to See It On A Postcard

Dogs

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking for Pets

Its springtime, blossom and flowers are blooming, and there is no need to wrap up in layers to

Cifford's Tower, York 1952-1953 by LS Lowry (1887-1976)

take a dog for a walk. Lowry usually has a dog somewhere in his urban paintings. This one is unusual in that he is away from his home base and they are not random dogs (and the occasional cat) walking through a crowd but feature dogs and their owners. Lowry's three paintings of York which were commissioned for £50 in 1952 are here.

Fidelity by Briton Riviere 1840-1920)

Originally titled Prisoners when shown at the Royal Academy in 1869 the painting depicts a young poacher and his loyal dog locked  in a prison cell and no doubt about to face some harsh punishment (the Victorian game laws were enforced with great severity). The painting was purchased by the industrialist and philanthropist Lord Leverhulme in 1903 who changed the name to 'Fidelity', shifting the focus from the crime to the comfort and love of a dog.

Light Dazzles

See It On A Postcard's  Thursday Postcard Hunt looking for light, or bright, colours

Venice, the Bridge of Sighs - exhibited 1840

JMW Turner working his magic with water, sky and light in a dreamlike view of Venice. A place he visited three times.

Pottery by Patrick Caulfield 1969

The paintings of  Patrick Caulfield (1936-2005) from the 1960s are characterised by flat areas of colour with objects defined by outlines. 'Pottery' is probably his most famous painting from that decade. His style would change permanently in the 1970s with highly complex paintings that play with definitions of reality and artifice.  From static colourful pots

"Fashionable Irish Sheep"

to sheep bringing a splash of colour to an island that has 40 shades of green.

Window Light

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt - Lights in Windows

Christmas Day - "Waiting" by Heikki Laaksonen

He will have finished waiting by now

Duke Street After Rain by John Duffin

Warm lights, cold rain. Duffin has made the town hall clock a mini moon. I think you would want me to point out the postbox on the near left.

2016: Agatha Christie (Illustrator - Neil Webb)

There are hidden clues in this illustration of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. The red figure fleeing the scene is a red herring. If  heat is applied to the black curtain of the second window the murderer appears. If only it was that easy for Hercule Poirot.  The suspects are written along the bottom of the stamp in micro text. The steam from the engine forms Poirot's profile.

Train windows make quite a few appearances in fiction whether spotting something from a window or seeing something in a window on a passing train, as imagined here by Neil Webb. Since Murder on the Orient Express was first published in 1933 there have been 3 film versions of the story. Screen Rant reprises and asks the question - which actor was the best Poirot? 

Happy Christmas

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt, what else could it be today but.... Christmas

2022: Christmas (Artist - Sami Saramaki)

 

The gift givers arrive

 

taking a break with the robin.

Madonna of the Rose Garden by Stefano da Verona (c1377-c1438)

 

Gift to the world

 

Christmas for U

 

1965: Christmas

The divine messenger, the angel Gabriel, announces the coming of Christmas

1974: Centenary of the Universal Postal Union

Peak postal time. The stamp quote is the opening line of one of John Donne's poems "more than kisses, letters mingle souls". As Dean of St Paul's Cathedral Donne would have been busy at this time of year writing his sermons. He was the rock star of church sermons, great crowds gathered to hear them. On Christmas Eve 1624 he would weave the seasons into his homily

There would be no sign of a Christmas tree back then (unless one was in Germany) but lots of evergreens such as holly were used for decoration. Here is a ginormous tree

1995: Christmas (1st Issue) Victorian Postcard Design

and a tiny one

2002: Christmas (2nd Issue)

Santa's tree comes with presents.

1980: Christmas - Antique Toys 

He has left a bigger drum at this house. I wonder if there is a snowy scene outside this window? Not here in the UK.  There is only a 5% chance of  snow which will be a good news for those travelling at Christmas and the forecast of high pressure will bring good weather for a winter walk.

1967: Expo 67 - World Fair, Montreal 

Meanwhile here is somewhere that is more than likely to have a white Christmas. Issued in Canadian currency from the UN World Fair Pavilion in Montreal. 

 

 

Stamps with something the world could do with in these turbulent times. 

Peace be with you at Christmastide

Sunday Stamps A-Z for USA, UN and the UPU - See It On A Postcard