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 

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.

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? 

Darkness

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is in spooky mood for  Hallowe'en or Black

A familiar story, a lone car on a lonely road. Will they reach their destination?

All Directions (Photo - Sarah Montgomery)

The mist descends, something moves in the dark...

 

Abandon by Meg Cabot

How will the story end? Its a matter of love and death...

The card was issued for the first of  a trilogy by Meg Cabot which was inspired by the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone.

 

Looking at Leopards

 

1976: African Animals

Somewhere in Liberia's dense forests this leopard prowls, its agility and  physiology are also perfect for climbing trees. The leopards in West Africa are geographically isolated, once abundant their numbers have dwindled and become fragmented.

1981: Birth Centenary of Kalman Kitteberger (explorer and zoologist)

The largest density of leopards in Africa are in Zambia and South Africa

2002: Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories (Illustrator - Izhar Cohen)

How did the leopard got its spots (and the Ethiopian dark skin)?  The short short answer is  here

2001 Children's Books

 

Introducing Leopold the Leopard who is woken by the rising sun, but is the only one awake, so he decides to climb a tree to visit the sun. He climbs to the top meeting lots of friends on the way, but not the sun, which has risen too high in the sky. This is the story of  'Leopold and the Sun' by Stephan Brulhart. The stamp was used on a cover for the 2002 Geneva Book Fair.

Sunday Stamps A-Z - L for Leopard, Liberia and little Leopold - leap now to See It On A Postcard 

Famous

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt for Famous People

'Magic of the Movies Series'

"They had a date with fate in Casablanca". I've lost count of how many times I have watched Casablanca. Most of the witty and often quoted dialogue was actually written day to day with none of the actors knowing until the final day of shooting how it was  going to end. The film was premiered in NY November 1942 (just after the Allies landed in North Africa ) with theatrical releases in January 1943. (Behind the Fog 10 surprising film facts)

A young Charles Dickens painted by his lifelong friend Daniel Maclise in 1839 when Dickens would have been 27. Pickwick Papers had been published in 1836 and in 1839 he had two monthly serializations running concurrently of Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. Many of Maclise's paintings were based on literary sources both ancient and modern. He also worked as an illustrator for Frasers Magazine and illustrated works by Dickens and Tennyson among others. The two friends would both die in the same year (1870), Dickens worn out with work and travel at 57 and Maclise of acute pneumonia. Maclise was born in Ireland (Cork) so lets visit his homeland with a royal couple 

'Queen Elizabeth II ad Prince Philip on their historic State Visit to the Republic of Ireland 2011'

being shown the art of pouring a perfect pint of Guinness although both declined the opportunity to drink it, there may have been some Irish banter at this point.

Peril

 See It on A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt - Legends and Children's Stories

I imagine there are lots of legends abut the sea in Brittany. This one features L'Ankou de la Mer. The card shows the stretch of sea between Pointe du Raz and Isle de Sein which has always been a place of danger for sailors. If a boat in these parts encountered 'Bag Noz' (boat of the night) it was sign of imminent death. The first drowned person of the year became Ankou of the Sea, and took the place of the captain of the sinister boat. The Bag Noz could appear at any moment but disappeared as soon as anyone tried to approach it. It was especially important not to try to follow it because it led directly to the reefs, which are numerous.

This is a Winnie the Pooh story of when Seven Acres Wood flooded. Pooh bear took his honey up to a branch of a tree and stayed there until on the fourth day there was nothing left. The chapter is called  'In Which Piglet is Entirely  Surrounded by Water'. Pooh spots Piglets message in a bottle asking for help, it looks like a honey jar so that gets Pooh bear down from the tree.

Rescuing Tigger from a pine tree using Christopher Robin's tunic from the chapter of The House At Pooh Corner In Which It is shown that Tigger's Don't Climb Trees

Animals Illustrated

See It On A Postcard's  Thursday Postcard Hunt - Illustrated Animals

One of Dick Bruna's alphabet cards and of course M is for Miffy

Frog by Matsumoto Hoji

Matsumoto Hoji was active in the late 18th Century. Little is known about him but must have been well known in the past as his frogs appeared in the 'Meika Gafu', a compendium of famous artworks and artists published in 1814.

Illustration - Jackie Morris from The Lost Words book

A frog almost hidden by a Lady Fern on what looks like a misty morning by the pond. From frog

to a dog in summertime. 

Map the World

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt on this month's theme - Illustrations;  Week 1 - Maps

Moominland Midwinter

Sensibly the Moomins sleep through the winter but one year Moomintroll wakes up and cannot get back to sleep, goes outside, and does not recognise this world of white which seems empty and feels lonely and frightening, but it is not long before someone appears. The Moominland Midwinter book, was published in 1957 with map and illustrations. Tove Jansen dedicated it to her mother. The perfect book for the winter season.

Welcome to Andalusia

Time to head for the sun and sea of Spain for a map one could use for exploring the real world.

Xmas in July

 

1981: Europa - Folklore (Design - Fritz Wegner)

Mummers' plays were performed seasonally usually at Christmas, Easter or Plough Monday and could be described as early pantomime with rhyming couplets. A popular play in England would be George and the Dragon with a twist that George is also eventually killed by a knight called Slasher but George is brought back to life by The Doctor and his magic potion. The plays are stories of birth and re-birth, good over evil enacted by masked or disguised actors. Modern mummers don't often wear elaborate masks.  I imagine the mummers glory years were the Middle Ages.

1993: 150th Anniversary of A Christmas Carol (Design - Quentin Blake)

Whatever the time of year everyone needs a jovial Mr and Mrs Fezzywig who Dickens portrays as symbols of joy and community, kindness and generosity and not only for Christmas. What else is not only for Christmas?  Well there is

2004: Christmas (Illustrator - Bjorn Berg)

receiving and sending mail and

2024: Christmas (Artist - Judy Joel)

churches, or this case cathedrals. Not forgetting the well known plea that when buying puppies as presents

 

1991: Dogs - Paintings by George Stubbs

"Dogs are not only for Christmas'. 

Sunday Stamps theme - Christmas in July - See It On A Postcard 

Millennium Blue

1999: Millennium - The Traveller's Tale (Design - George Hardie)

 Into the blue with Millennium stamps - Jetting around the world

2000: Millennium - Water and Coast

Take the maritime route at Portsmouth Harbour

2000: Millennium - People and Place

Cross over the Gateshead Millennium Bridge spanning the River Tyne

2000: Millennium - Art and Crafts

Visit Tate Modern, 20th Century art and beyond, housed in what was the Bankside Power Station

1999: Millennium - The Patient's Tale (Design - Susan Macfarlane)

Sometimes unexpected things happen, lets hope it does not involve nurses and stretchers.

2002: Peter Pan (Illustrator - Colin Shearing)

or pirates.

Sunday Stamps theme - Blue - See It On A Postcard 

Imaginative Women

 

1980:Europa - Victorian Novelists (Design - Barbara Brown)

The 1980 Europa theme was famous people and GB featured two Bronte sisters. Charlotte gets the CEPT logo and the  12p first class letter rate

Emily gets the versatile 15p for heaver letters both first and second class.  I don't have the other two writers featured on the set who were George Elliot (Mill on the Floss) and Elisabeth Gaskell (North and South).

2011: Magical Realms

The versatile Tilda Swinton,as the White Witch/Queen in the film 'Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'. If you want other worldly she's your woman.   From flights of the imagination to

2003: Extreme Endeavors (Design - H Brown)

a record breaking aviator, the FDC shows  Amy Johnson's solo flight from London to Darwin, Australia in 1930. She  hoped to set  a record flight time but missed it by three days however her adventure propelled her into the press and public's imagination. She went on to set records for Siberia to Tokyo and London to Cape Town. In 1940 she joined the RAF Air Transport Auxiliary but while on a mission disappeared over the Thames Estuary in January1941. The cancel is from her home town of Kingston Upon Hull. Her flights however were from, at the time, the only international airport in the country Croydon Aerodrome (a large part of aviation history). Croydon's Aerodrome Hotel celebrated their 75th Anniversary with this FDC.

The hotel makes an appearance on the reverse of the envelope as it would have looked in the 1930s.

Sunday Stamps theme - Famous Women - join one at See It On A Postcard

Pictorial Maps

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is in search of pictorial maps

A postcard map for a literary pilgrimage to Bronte Country

and to find your way a larger map may be needed although the Pennine Way, on the spine of England, bypasses the sisters home, Haworth Parsonage so no tea shop stop there if walking the route.

Alternatively relax into a scenic railway journey through Yorkshire. The 19th Century Ribblehead Viaduct at the bottom is the most impressive of them all on the Settle to Carlisle Line and beloved by photographers, especially if there is a steam train crossing.

Perhaps as it is winter take a city break in Antwerp, the railway station will impress and a cornucopia of postcards are for sale at the Plantin-Moretus printing museum.

Blue Yonder

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking at the colour Blue

A quiet day fishing in Moomin Valley

Lake Keitele by Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1905)

They might get lost in the huge expanse of Lake Keitele in central Finland. Gallen-Kallela painted the lake many times between 1904 and 1906. This is his third painting and is the only painting of his work in a British public collection. Some years ago the British National Gallery put on an exhibition of his works and brought together all four versions. This is considered his most elaborate, showing the lake under summer light.  I must admit the cool blue reminded me of icy waters but then in my experience lake water is rarely, if ever, warm. A beautiful lake to gaze across whatever the season.

La Grande Famille by Rene Magritte (1963)

A seascape from Rene Magritte of both tranquility and foreboding

Polynesia, The Sky by Henri Matisse (1946)

Time to relax on a Polynesian island under a blue sky.