Every Stamp Tells a Story
Every Stamp Tells a Story

Author: Cheryl Ganz

Publisher: Smithsonian Institution

Published: 2014-12-02

Total Pages: 415

ISBN-13: 1935623540

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Every stamp and piece of mail tells a story. In fact, each often tells multiple stories, ranging from concept to art design to production to usage, often with tales of politics, history, technology, biography, genealogy, economics, geography, disaster, and triumph. The lens of philately offers a fresh and engaging story of American history, culture, and identity, and it can also help deepen the understanding of world cultures. The William H. Gross Stamp Gallery, opened at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in September 2013, has many such stories to tell. Chief philately curator Cheryl R. Ganz guides readers through some of the gallery's nearly 20,000 objects that together illustrate the history of our nation's postal operations and postage stamps.

Dorothy Knapp
Dorothy Knapp

Author: Douglas S. Weisz

Publisher:

Published: 2015-03-05

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 9780692243435

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Dorothy Knapp: Philately and Family is the definitive biography and complete works of the most famous cachet artist in the history of philately. Envelope art has been utilized for over a century to communicate a public message through the mail system. Every stamp and event tells a story and Dorothy illustrated this in her legendary style within the limited canvas of an envelope. Over 1600 full color images tell the story of her work of nearly 20 years. The collection of these works uncovered unsolved mysteries about her relationships with others in the industry and identification of her unsigned work. Journals, letters, interviews and family photos tell her personal story and how her life translated into this remarkable body of work.

The One-Cent Magenta
The One-Cent Magenta

Author: James Barron

Publisher: Algonquin Books

Published: 2017-03-07

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 1616207175

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An inside look at the obsessive, secretive, and often bizarre world of high-profile stamp collecting, told through the journey of the world’s most sought-after stamp. When it was issued in 1856, it cost a penny. In 2014, this tiny square of faded red paper sold at Sotheby’s for nearly $9.5 million, the largest amount ever paid for a postage stamp at auction. Through the stories of the eccentric characters who have bought, owned, and sold the one-cent magenta in the years in between, James Barron delivers a fascinating tale of global history and immense wealth, and of the human desire to collect. One-cent magentas were provisional stamps, printed quickly in what was then British Guiana when a shipment of official stamps from London did not arrive. They were intended for periodicals, and most were thrown out with the newspapers. But one stamp survived. The singular one-cent magenta has had only nine owners since a twelve-year-old boy discovered it in 1873 as he sorted through papers in his uncle’s house. He soon sold it for what would be $17 today. (That’s been called the worst stamp deal in history.) Among later owners was a fabulously wealthy Frenchman who hid the stamp from almost everyone (even King George V of England couldn’t get a peek); a businessman who traveled with the stamp in a briefcase he handcuffed to his wrist; and John E. du Pont, an heir to the chemical fortune, who died while serving a thirty-year sentence for the murder of Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz. Recommended for fans of Nicholas A. Basbanes, Susan Orlean, and Simon Winchester, The One-Cent Magenta explores the intersection of obsessive pursuits and great affluence and asks why we want most what is most rare.

A History of America in Thirty-Six Postage Stamps
A History of America in Thirty-Six Postage Stamps

Author: Chris West

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2014-10-28

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1250043697

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DISCOVER THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF AMERICA THROUGH ITS BEAUTIFUL AND DIVERSE POSTAGE STAMPS IN THIS EXUBERANT AND ALWAYS CHARMING HISTORY. In A History of America in Thirty-six Postage Stamps, Chris West explores America's own rich philatelic history. From George Washington's dour gaze to the charging buffalo of the western frontier and Lindbergh's soaring biplane, American stamps are a vivid window into our country's extraordinary and distinctive past. With the always accessible and spirited West as your guide, discover the remarkable breadth of America's short history through a fresh lens. On their own, stamps can be curiosities, even artistic marvels; in this book, stamps become a window into the larger sweep of history.

The Stamp Collector
The Stamp Collector

Author: Jennifer Lanthier

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781554552184

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On the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Honour List 2014 2013 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award Honor Book 2013 Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award nominee Forest of Reading's Golden Oak 2014 winner 2014 Silver Birch Express Award nominee OLA 2012 Best Bet - Picture Books category A city boy finds a stamp that unlocks his imagination; a country boy is captivated by stories. When they grow up, the two boys take different paths--one becomes a prison guard, the other works in a factory--but their early childhood passions remain. When the country boy's stories of hope land him in prison, the letters and stamps sent to him from faraway places intrigue the prison guard and a unique friendship begins.

European Stamp Issues of the Second World War
European Stamp Issues of the Second World War

Author: Dr David Parker

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2021-06-30

Total Pages: 504

ISBN-13: 0750997826

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Today, European nations still use stamps to commemorate aspects of a nation's culture, history and achievements. During the Second World War, however, stamps were considered far more important in conveying political and ideological messages about their country's change in fortunes – whether it was as triumphant occupier, willing or unwilling ally, or oppressed victim. Some issues and overprints contained obvious messages, but many others were skillfully designed and subtle in their intentions. Stamps and their accompanying postmarks offer an absorbing and surprisingly detailed insight into the hopes and fears of nations at this tumultuous time. This remarkable collection examines and interprets the stamps of twenty-two countries across western and eastern Europe. The glorification of the Führer and Germany on the stamps of countries he most oppressed was inevitable, but many issues are ambiguous and indicative of the rival ethnic and political forces striving to attain influence and power. Desperate to unite the people, Soviet Russia resorted to images of the nation's heroic achievements under the Tsars; the mutually hostile puppet states Hitler and Mussolini allowed to emerge out of conquered Yugoslavia lost no time in issuing stamps proclaiming their cultural diversity; and Vichy France sought to justify its existence with issues linking past glories under Louis XIV and Napoleon with an equally glorious future alongside Hitler. These and many more stories reveal the aspirations, assumptions and anxieties of so many nations as their destinies hung in the balance.

The 1933 Chicago World's Fair
The 1933 Chicago World's Fair

Author: Cheryl Ganz

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2012-01-06

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 0252078527

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Chicago's 1933 world's fair set a new direction for international expositions. Earlier fairs had exhibited technological advances, but Chicago's fair organizers used the very idea of progress to buoy national optimism during the Depression's darkest years. Orchestrated by business leaders and engineers, almost all former military men, the fair reflected a business-military-engineering model that envisioned a promising future through science and technology's application to everyday life. But not everyone at Chicago's 1933 exposition had abandoned notions of progress that entailed social justice and equality, recognition of ethnicity and gender, and personal freedom and expression. The fair's motto, "Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms," was challenged by iconoclasts such as Sally Rand, whose provocative fan dance became a persistent symbol of the fair, as well as a handful of other exceptional individuals, including African Americans, ethnic populations and foreign nationals, groups of working women, and even well-heeled socialites. Cheryl R. Ganz offers the stories of fair planners and participants who showcased education, industry, and entertainment to sell optimism during the depths of the Great Depression. This engaging history also features eighty-six photographs--nearly half of which are full color--of key locations, exhibits, and people, as well as authentic ticket stubs, postcards, pamphlets, posters, and other it

British and Commonwealth Revenue Stamps
British and Commonwealth Revenue Stamps

Author: Martin P Nicholson

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2014-03-19

Total Pages: 34

ISBN-13: 9781497393714

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I have been a stamp collector for over 40 years, a postal historian and a philatelist for about 15 of those years and a specialist collector of revenue stamps and documents for the last 5 years. I've been a member of some the most friendly and well-run groups you could ever imagine – the State Revenue Society and the American Philatelic Society are both examples of best practice – and I even flirted briefly with philatelic exhibiting.Despite having served such a lengthy apprenticeship I still don't have an answer to a really basic question: "Why are postage stamps catalogued, collected and researched with so much more energy and enthusiasm than revenue stamps?"There are many countries where there doesn't seems to be a reliable and up-to-date catalogue of revenue stamps – certainly not one accessible to a virtual monoglot such as myself. I think it comes down to what I call “critical mass”. Without enough revenue stamp collectors it is hard for dealers to establish a viable business but without dealers generating catalogues and generally raising the profile of this branch of the hobby I suspect that prospective revenue stamp collectors tend to wander off into the sunset searching for easier pickings.The Revenue Society has defined revenue stamps as " ...stamps, whether impressed, adhesive or otherwise, issued by or on behalf of International, National or Local Governments, their Licensees or Agents, and indicate that a tax, duty or fee has been paid or prepaid or that permission has been granted."This small study is intended to bring to the attention of the collecting public the sheer diversity of revenue stamps.

From My Old Stamp Album
From My Old Stamp Album

Author: Stuart Laycock

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2017-11-24

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0750986808

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Pickup an old stamp album and flick through it. You'll find a host of exotic and unfamiliar names: Cyrenaica, Fernando Poo, Fiume, North Ingria, Obock, Stellaland, Tuva, – distant lands, vanished territories, lost countries. Do they still exist? If not, where were they? What happened to them? From My Old Stamp Album goes in search of the truth about these and many other amazing places. Stuart Laycock and Chris West unearth stories of many kinds. Some take you to long-disappeared empires; others throw light on the modern era's most pressing wars. You are invited to enjoy them all, in a collection of historical narratives as broad and enticing as that old stamp album that you've just discovered in the attic.