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ARTS & CULTURE


THE STORY OF THE FIRST POSTAGE STAMP

Postage stamps can reveal more than the history of a letter, they can reveal the
history of a nation

Jimmy Stamp

July 19, 2013

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Penny Black. The World’s first postage stamp (image: wikimedia commons)

“Philately” (get your mind out of the gutter) is the proper term for the
studying of stamps and stamp collecting. It was coined in 1865 by Georges
Herpin, who very well may have been the first stamp collector, from the Ancient
Greek φιλο (philo), meaning “love of” and ἀτέλεια (atelīa), meaning “without
tax.” Of course, because the ancient Greeks didn’t have postage stamps, there
was no proper Greek word for the idea. But, as we shall see, the term is
actually a reference to the earliest days of paid postage.



Postage can reveal more than the history of a letter, it can reveal the history
of a nation. As noted by the National Postal Museum, which celebrates its 20th
anniversary this month, “every stamp tells a story”—and, I might add, it
sometimes tells how the story should be told (fat Elvis or skinny Elvis?).

The National Postal Museum’s stamp galleries (image: National Postal Museum)

The forthcoming book A History of Britain in Thirty-Six Postage Stamps by Chris
West tells the story of the stamp. And of Britain. West is himself a philatelist
(seriously stop snickering) who inherited a collection from his uncle that
included a “Penny Black”—the first postage stamp issued in Britain and, more
importantly, the first postage stamp issued anywhere.

The Penny Black bears the image of Queen Victoria, but the first British postal
service did not originate in Victorian England. In 1680 an entrepreneur by the
name of William Dockwra started a public service that guaranteed the quick
delivery of a letter anywhere in London. His system was quickly nationalized
with Dockwra in charge. It was far from a perfect system, burdened with
seemingly erroneous charges and tariffs that made it unreasonably expensive to
send a letter. Worse still, recipients were expected to pay. As you might
imagine, this presented some problems—either people weren’t home or flat-out
refused to pay. Not to mention the blatant corruption. The system just didn’t
work, but it remained in place for far too long.

About 50 years later, an ambitious polymath named Rowland Hill thought he could
do better. Hill ran a progressive school, for which he also designed a central
heating system, a swimming pool and an observatory. Hill’s skills weren’t just
architectural and pedagogical, he was also an accomplished painter, inventor and
essayist. In one of his most famous pamphlets, Post Office Reform, its
Importance and Practicability, Hill argued for abolishing the postal tariffs and
replacing them with a single national rate of one penny, which would be paid by
the sender.



When the post office ignored Hill’s ideas, he self-published his essay and it
quickly gained ground among the public. Hill was then summoned by Postmaster
General Lord Lichfield to discuss postal reform and, during their subsequent
meeting, the two men conceived of an adhesive label that could be applied to
envelopes to indicate payment. Though it had gained momentum with the public who
longed for an affordable way to connect with distant friends and family,
officials still were’t convinced, calling it “extraordinary” (in a bad way) and
“preposterous,” and probably saying things like “crikey!” and “I say!” and “what
hufflepuffery!” and other such exclamations popular among the blustery Victorian
bureaucrat set. Thankfully, Hill was far from alone in his passion for reform.
He eventually earned enough support from other like-minded individuals, like
Henry Cole, founding director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as
larger, powerful organizations, to convince Parliament to implement his system.

In 1839, Hill held a competition to design all the necessary postal
paraphernalia. The winning stamp entry depicting the young Queen’s profile came
from one William Wyon, who based the design on a medal he created to celebrate
her first visit to London earlier that year. Hill worked with artist Henry
Corbould to refine the portrait and develop the stamp’s intricate background
pattern. After deciding to produce the stamps through line engraving, engravers
George Rushall and Charles and Frederick Heath prepared the design for printing.

The Penny Black and the Penny Red (image: wikimedia commons)

The “penny black” stamp went on sale May 1, 1840. It was an immediate hit.
Suddenly, the country seemed a lot smaller. Over the next year, 70 million
letters were sent. Two years later, the number had more than tripled. Other
countries soon followed suit. The Penny Black’s design was so well received, it
remained in use for forty years, though, as the National Postal Museum notes,
“it underwent color changes (1841), adopted perforations (1848), and acquired
check letters in all four corners (1858)…and most of those designs were retained
for Victoria’s successor, Edward VII, (1901) with his profile being
substituted.”

The National Postal Museum also shares some insight into why we put stamps on
the upper right corner of envelopes. The answer is refreshingly utilitarian: the
location of the stamp was decided because over 80 percent of London’s male
population was right-handed and it was believed this would help expedite the
postmarking/cancellation process.

“Stamps can be a good way of establishing a ‘national brand,’” says West.
Indeed, a nation’s stamps express the identity and the ambitions of a country.
Few countries understood this better than Czechoslovakia, whose government hired
noted artist and graphic designer Alphonse Mucha to design its stamps—as well as
its money, and almost every other official piece of paper—when the country
gained its independence after World War I. West cites other examples, noting how
Germany, after World War II, focused on the country’s positive contribution to
European culture, while modern America illustrates its history, diversity and
individual achievement with its numerous stamps celebrating famous artists and
innovators.



A History of Britain in Thirty-Six Postage Stamps lives up to its title. Though
stamps may be the subject of the book, its content is full of insight into the
full history of the British Empire, from Queen Victoria to Kate
Middleton. Through West’s book, we get fascinating stories and anecdotes about
wars, celebrations, the mercurial fortunes of Britain’s royalty, the rise and
fall of its empire and, of course, design. All told a penny at a time.



Get the latest Travel & Culture stories in your inbox.



Jimmy Stamp | | READ MORE

Jimmy Stamp is a writer/researcher and recovering architect who writes for
Smithsonian.com as a contributing writer for design.


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