BPMA Events Programme 2010

Our 2010 Events Guide has just arrived in the office and is now available online.

As usual the BPMA are hosting an exciting programme of Exhibitions, Walks, Discover Sessions, Talks and Tours. Many of our exhibitions and events next year will also be part of London 2010: Festival of Stamps and relate to the theme of George V, the philatelist King. Highlights include:

Treasures of the Archive
An exhibition of unique treasures from the BPMA, including a sheet of penny black stamps and the original die, among many other items of unparalleled significance in UK postal history.

Empire Mail: George V and the GPO
A major exhibition looking at the passions of King George V, the ‘philatelist king’ and the extraordinary period of design and innovation in the General Post Office during his reign.

Talks
Speakers include Vice President of the National Philatelic Society Dane Garrod, designer and illustrator Ronald Maddox and Keeper of the Royal Philatelic Collection Michael Sefi. BPMA Curator of Philately Douglas Muir will speak on stamp designer Bertram Mackennal, and designers and authors Brian Webb and Peyton Skipworth will speak on artists who worked for the GPO, including Barnett Freedman, Edward Bawden and Eric Ravillious.

Walking Tours
This year we are introducing a shorter highlights tour, taking you through the heart of GPO London in just 90 minutes.

We hope to add new events throughout the year, so keep checking the What’s On page for more information.

If you receive our Newsletter by post you will be sent a copy of the Events Guide in the New Year. Contact us on info@postalheritage.org.uk if you’d like one sent to you, or download the pdf version from our What’s On page.

Philately is the new (Penny) black

“Czech glass, Doctor Who memorabilia and vintage fashion are all on the up, as is stamp collecting. That’s right, in 2010, philately is the new (Penny) black.”

So says the current edition of BBC Homes & Antiques magazine, and who are we to argue? 2010, of course, is when London 2010: Festival of Stamps will take place – a year long celebration of stamps, stamp design and postal heritage.

London 2010: Festival of Stamps is more than a stamp show, there will be exhibitions, talks, walking tours and events of interest to everyone, from the stamp collecting novice to the hardcore philatelist.

This blog will soon publish a full rundown of events planned for London 2010: Festival of Stamps, but in the meantime have a look at the festival’s all new website – http://www.london2010.org.uk/.

The Accession Stamp issue of Edward VIII

by Adam Reynolds, Project Archivist (Stamp Artwork)

Recent months have seen the online publication of all philatelic artwork relating to the reign of King Edward VIII, as part of the ongoing Stamp Artwork Project at the BPMA. Despite the brevity of Edward VIII’s reign, there was a substantial amount of stamp artwork produced, for both the unreleased Coronation issue, and the Accession issue.

The stamps for the Accession issue are particularly striking in their break from the ornamentation characterising the stamps of George V. It was agreed at an early stage that there would be no invitation to artists to submit designs. With the adoption of the photogravure production process, it was possible to produce a portrait more successfully; with this process specifically in mind, the first essential was an acceptable photographic portrait of the King.

H J Brown's pencil drawing

Profile pictures by Hugh Cecil were specifically taken for the stamp issue in March 1936. H.J. Brown, then only 17, submitted an unsolicited pencil drawing in April; this formed the basis of the design, along with the Cecil head.

The decision to use a photographic portrait was a cause of controversy to some, with one member of the public commenting that “the Post Office is content to produce these highly important exports without calling in the advice on the real expert – in other words, the artist. As well rebuild Whitehall without an architect!”

As issued in September 1936 the four stamps of King Edward VIII were very simple in format, quite different from anything that had gone before. The design reflected the new King’s desire for simplicity and change. Public reaction to the stamps was generally very positive, in particular praising their simplicity.

Edward VIII Accession issue, 1d

Despite this there were still reactionary grumbles to the issue; as one member of the public writing to the Daily Express exclaimed:

“Can anything be done to prevent the new stamp? The crown appears to have nothing to do with the head of the King (which looks as though he has been beheaded). As for the word ‘postage’ – words fail me. In short, it is a horrible production.”

The criticism took on a more apocalyptic tone from James Marchant of Poole, in his letter to The Times on 4th September 1936:

“It so happened that soon after I purchased one of the new stamps I walked into a typical Protestant Church of the Reformation period, with its shivering bareness of brick and whitewash. The new stamp expresses the same spirit which erected that stark abomination. It is the same spirit which is covering the land with iron and concrete barrack-flats in the design of which the artist has been forthright cast out”.

Readers can judge for themselves in viewing all the material related to the design process of the Accession issue on the BPMA’s online catalogue, and can also read more about other stamp issues from the reigns of Edward VIII and George V, at the home of the Stamp Artwork Project.

2009 Christmas Stamps

Royal Mail has today released this year’s Christmas stamps, a set of seven adhesive stamps designed by Andrew Ross, featuring stained-glass windows produced in the 19th Century. It has generally been the tradition for British Christmas stamps to alternate between religious and more secular themes, and these stamps come on the back of last year’s Christmas pantomime stamps.

2009 Christmas stamps

Perhaps surprisingly, stained-glass windows have only appeared on Christmas stamps twice before, in 1971 and 1992. The 1971 stamps were designed by Collis Clements who had submitted his original designs to the Stamp Advisory Committee for the 1970 Christmas stamps.

Collis Clement's 1970 Christmas stamp designs

While designs by Sally Stiff were chosen in 1970, Clement’s were held over for 1971 and were judged to be better than those submitted by other designers in that year.

Collis Clement's 1971 Christmas stamps

As Clement’s stamps depicted scenes from a 12th century stained glass window in Canterbury Cathedral the Post Office decided to provide a special pictorial postmark at Canterbury. It was circular, 15/16 inches in diameter, with the Cathedral as a central motif.

2009 Christmas postmark from Bethlehem

First day of issue (FDI) postmarks for ‘Bethlehem, Llandeilo, Carms’ had become popular with collectors since the first British Christmas stamps were issued in 1966 and for the Christmas 1970 stamps the Post Office provided a pictorial FDI postmark at this location. The pictorial postmark had been considered a success by the Post Office and was repeated in 1971 with a different design, this time showing a star-shaped snowflake motif to the left of a circular datestamp, 2¾ inches by 15/16 inches. The tradition of a FDI postmark for Bethlehem continues to this day, with a stained-glass window-style “praying hands” design available this year.

The 1992 stained glass Christmas stamps were designed by Carroll, Dempsey and Thirkell who have worked on a number of projects for Royal Mail including the Millennium series (1999-2000), Machin stamp books, the Microcosmos Prestige Stamp Book (2003) and Sounds of Britain (2006). Like this year’s Christmas stamps, the 1992 issue featured stained-glass windows from a variety of churches around Britain.

1992 Christmas stamps by Carroll, Dempsey and Thirkell

The 2009 Christmas stamps are now available from http://www.royalmail.com/stamps

The first London Olympics stamps

Tomorrow Royal Mail is releasing the first ten of 30 1st class stamps which will be issued over the next three years in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The thirty stamps not only represent the 30th Olympiad but will showcase thirty different Olympic and Paralympic sports. Each stamp is designed by a different contemporary artist or illustrator, giving this issue a distinctive and modern look. 

The first of the London 2012 Olympics stamp issues

But London 2012 is not London’s first Olympics and these are not Britain’s first Olympics stamps; London hosted the Games in both 1908 and 1948 (the only city apart from Athens to be awarded the Games three times) and a set of stamps was released to celebrate the 1948 Games (there were no 1908 Olympics stamps as commemoratives were not issued in Britain until 1924). Unfortunately we are unable to show pictures of the 1948 Olympics stamps, but we can tell you a little about them.

Four Olympics stamps were issued on 29th July 1948 (the day of the opening ceremony) in 2½d, 3d, 6d and 1/- denominations. The designers were S. D. Scott (of Waterlows stamp printers), Edmund Dulac, Percy Metcalfe and Abram Games. Scott’s 6d design was also selected for use on air letters, as it was suitable for both photogravure (stamp) and letterpress (air letter) printing.

The first day cover cancellations for the first set of London 2012 Olympics stamps

A special slogan die bearing the impression of the Olympic rings set against a background of wavy obliterator lines was produced and a special stamp cancelling machine was installed at Wembley Stadium (the main Olympics venue). The Olympic rings slogan was used on all unregistered letters (provided they would pass through the machine) that were posted in specially-marked pillar boxes in the Wembley grounds or at the Olympics Games Post Office.

Overprints for use in Bahrain, Kuwait, Muscat, Morocco Agencies and Tangier were produced, but according to a press report of the time one of the Muscat overprints was faulty. On 11th August 1948 The Evening News reported that Mr J G Clive, managing director of a stamp wholesaler in Maidenhead, received an order of 9000 of the 1/- stamps overprinted 1 Rupee for Muscat. They arrived in 75 sheets of 120, and Mr Clive found that one sheet had a fault: the 1 Rupee overprint had been printed twice. Mr Clive told the Evening News that his find was worth at least £3,000 (more than £81,000 in today’s money).

In total 3.5 million sets of the 1948 Olympics issue were sold, earning the GPO £340,000 – and the stamps were much admired by the public and collectors. The magazine Stamp Collecting even published an anonymous poem on the subject in their issue dated 14th August 1948.

To the Very Refined Lady on the 1/- Olympic Stamp

Dedicated without permission, to the Postmaster General, by his humble and obedient servant a Member of the Public

She bounces on a weary world
Skittish, coy, and fat and forty.
Her wings askew, her hair is curled,
She hopes she’s looking rather naughty. 

Oh Whitehall, dashing, carefree, frisky.
How did you draw a dame so risqué?
Perhaps you wished to make us start
With admiration at your art-
Or was it just a double whisky?

References
POST 102/12 – Commemorative stamp issues, Channel Islands, Olympic Games and U K regional issues
POST 122/8232 – Postage stamps. Obliteration and sales to dealers etc.: philatelic revenue from new issues. Accountant General’s Department calculations on the Silver Wedding, Channel Islands and Olympics special issues

Barnett Freedman, Stephen Tallents and the making of the Jubilee Stamp

by Scott Anthony 

Historians often remember King George V’s Silver Jubilee in 1935 as a jamboree, a day when the British collectively bunked off from the economic, political and social strife that beset the nation between the wars.

The Silver Jubilee stamp designed by Barnett Freedman was central to the popular celebrations. Philately played a large part in King George V’s popular appeal, and by an odd twist of fate Jubilee day fell on the 95th anniversary of the launch of the Penny Black. It was apt that King George’s Jubilee stamp would become one of a long 20th century line of everyday collectables.

Less appreciated now is Freedman’s extraordinary artistic ambition. Freedman’s design utilised then cutting-edge printing techniques to give the stamp something approaching a three dimensional texture, while his use of shading was designed to make it appear as if light was emanating from the King’s head. As well as a sentimental appeal, for contemporaries the stamp had an almost sci-fi attraction that attracted a degree of controversy.

George V Silver Jubilee stamps by Barnett Freedman

“By taking full advantage of the photogravure process and getting a brilliance of effect hitherto unknown in our stamps”, sniffed The Manchester Guardian, “Freedman has sacrificed what is to some an essential quality of design.” In short, when it came to stamps, the newspaper critics of the day where stuck firmly in the flat earth camp.

However, the popular success of the Jubilee stamp marked an important step towards resurrecting the reputation of the lithograph. Artists like Freedman along with Paul Nash, Edward McKnight Kauffer and Graham Sutherland believed that the lithograph enabled mass production while keeping the artist in close personal touch with his audience. Something of Freedman’s working methods can be seen in the GPO Film The King’s Stamp. As the rhetoric of the day went, “in the modern age good art should not be the exclusive property of museums”.

Under the direction of Sir Stephen Tallents, Britain’s first public relations officer, the General Post Office had similarly sought to imbue everyday objects with rare aesthetic value. From Rex Whistler’s Valentine’s Day Telegram to Giles Gilbert Scott’s Jubilee Telephone Kiosk to the bright bakelite phones Tallents placed in Victor Saville musicals, Freedman’s stamp was part of a wider upsurge of what might be best described as a brief moment of Civil Service idealism.

Tallents’ triumphant commissions had also finally secured Freedman’s public reputation. Born of Jewish Russian émigrés in the East End of London, Freedman had begun attending night school at St Martins aged 15, while by day working on the design of tombstones (for a stone mason) and then war memorials (for an architect). After winning a London County Council arts scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art, Freedman eeked out an existence teaching and designing book covers. Notable successes included Siegfried Sassoon’s Memoir of an Infantryman and several books by Tallents’ friend Walter de la Mere. Indeed, Freedman would later design the Tallents family Christmas card.

The Post Office’s commissions brought Freedman’s methods to a mass national audience and secured the 33 year-old employment from the most far-sighted and prestigious corporate sponsors of modern art in 1930s Britain; London Transport, Shell and Crawford’s advertising agency. Freedman’s exacting style now playfully emphasised the importance of road safety, modern agricultural methods and the importance of beer drinking to sporting success. He also found minor celebrity as the violin player providing the musical accompaniment to William Simonds’ puppet show.

A Barnett Freedman illustration from The Post Office: A review of the activities of the Post Office 1934

Most importantly, Tallents professional patronage sealed an ongoing personal relationship with Freedman. Both were part of a generation for whom the 1935 Jubilee was indeed a rare jamboree, as Britain was buffeted by successive wars and economic crisis. Post-war austerity required Freedman’s acceptance of an ever greater teaching load, the pressures of overwork, stress and relative poverty contributing to his untimely death at the age of 57.

Tallents and Freedman shared an interest in Alfred Stevens, a cult hero of British art typically held up at the time as a victim of Victorian vulgarity and short-sightedness. Amongst their last letters Tallents pointed out to Freedman that the flat (in Canning Place, Kensington) where he designed The Jubilee Stamp was adjacent to the one in which Stevens had designed his ill-fated Wellington monument.

It was a quirky and amused exchange, but Freedman could have been forgiven for thinking that not all the comparisons with the “British Michaelangelo from Blandford Forum” were entirely happy ones.

Many thanks to Jeremy Parrett at the Sir Kenneth Green Library, Manchester Metropolitan University for his assistance with this article.

Scott Anthony is a Research Fellow at the University of Manchester and author of the BFI Film Classic Night Mail. On 29th October he will be talking about the GPO’s patronage of art, design and film under Tallents at the BPMA.

The Post Office Went to War

On 29th September Christine Earle a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London will speak at the BPMA about the Post Office during World War 2. This event year marks the 70th Anniversary of the start of the Second World War, and appropriately Christine’s talk will be preceded by a screening of The First Days, a GPO Film Unit film which documents the changes underwent by the population of London during September 1939.

A still from The First Days: nurses volunteer to fill sandbags

Christine Earle has been a thematic stamp collector for over twenty years, using stamps and philatelic material to tell a story. More recently she has become interested in ‘Social Philately’, which allows the use of ephemera type material, as well as stamps and covers to be included in the collection. This has led to the ‘Post Office Went to War’ collection, which describes the effect that war had on the General Post Office during 1939-45; using a wide variety of philatelic material supported by associated items of the period including GPO notices, ration books, savings stamps, etc.

Christine has been a member, committee member and chair of many regional philatelic societies. She was Chair of the British Thematic Association until last year and is currently Honorary Secretary to the Council of the Royal Philatelic Society London. She has not only won 5 F.I.P Gold Medals for thematic collecting but is also an accredited judge for Thematic and Social Philately. Since 2003 Christine has been an F.I.P International judge for Thematic Philately. She conducts thematic judging seminars around the country as well as thematic collecting workshops nationwide.

For further information and booking details please see the Events section of our website. The First Days is available on the DVD If War Should Come.

The Battle of Britain stamps controversy

David Gentleman, whose many British stamp designs are currently being exhibited in our Search Room, is no stranger to controversy. In 1965 he wrote to Postmaster General Tony Benn (who had announced a new policy for stamp issues in late 1964 and was seeking suggestions) and requested that the design limitations of having to include the monarch’s head on stamps be addressed. Benn, a republican, was keen to remove the monarch’s head, and saw Gentleman’s design limitations argument as an excellent – and non-political – way to achieve this objective. 

Gentleman, and his wife Rosalind Dease, had already been commissioned to design stamps commemorating the death of Winston Churchill and the 25th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain, and supplied Benn with versions of the designs without the Queen’s head. Ultimately, it was decided that the monarch’s head should remain on British stamps (you can read the full story by downloading the PDF The David Gentleman Album from our website), but this was not the end of the controversy as far as the Battle of Britain stamps were concerned.

More than a month before their release date a number of newspapers published images of the stamps, with several tabloids highlighting two of the eight stamps, which showed German aircraft. The first of the two stamps in question showed the wing-tip of a Messerschmitt fighter overshadowed by the wing-tip of a Spitfire; the other stamp showed a Dornier bomber sinking into the sea while Hawker Hurricanes flew above it. The reason for the focus on these stamps was that the German aircraft pictured featured German military emblems, the Balkenkreuz (cross) on the Messerschmitt and the swastika on the Dornier.

The six 4d Battle of Britain se tenant stamps designed by David Gentleman and Rosalind Dease. The two other stamps in this issue showed anti-aircraft artillery, and an air battle over St Pauls cathedral. They were designed by Andrew Restall, and Gentleman and Dease, respectively.

The inclusion of these emblems, particularly the swastika, caused great concern, with several Members of Parliament and the House of Lords speaking against the stamps. At the same time, representatives of a number of organisations, and many members of the public wrote letters to The Queen, the Prime Minister and Tony Benn, requesting that the Battle of Britain stamps be withdrawn.

A London Rabbi, writing to Benn on behalf of 775 families of his congregation, wrote “Please don’t allow swastika on our stamps. They are the 20th Century symbol of persecution, oppression, suffering and all that is evil”. The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Mr S. Teff, also expressed his concerns in writing to Benn: “The Board has already received numerous complaints from members of the Jewish community to whom the sight of the swastika in any form is offensive in the extreme.”

A common theme amongst many of the complainants, in particular those who had served in the war, was that issuing a stamp bearing the swastika was an insult to the war dead. Others objected to the swastika appearing alongside the Queen’s head.

Withdrawing the stamps would have been very difficult for the Post Office as the Battle of Britain issue was the first set of stamps to be commissioned since Benn had changed the policy to include stamps commemorating important anniversaries. Indeed, the Battle of Britain stamps had come about partly due to lobbying from the Royal Air Forces Association and a number of Members of Parliament. The issue was also the largest issue of commemorative stamps to date.

Benn and his department took the view that the reason for the objections to the stamps was that the tabloid press articles which had highlighted the stamps featuring German aircraft, had not made clear the purpose of the stamps, and that black and white images of the stamps which appeared in various publications did not effectively convey the subtlety of the designs.

“The purpose of the stamp is to commemorate the victory over Nazism and I am sure that when the stamp is seen in colour it will be quite apparent that the swastika on the tail of the Dornier bomber is both split and half covered by water; the shattered Dornier is sinking in the English Channel and high above four RAF fighters, objective achieved, are flying back to base” wrote one official, in reply to a member of the public.

“In effect, the stamp is meant to be symbolic of the crushing of the Nazis and all that they stood for. We hope you will agree that within the limits of stamp design, it is difficult to do justice to a subject without introducing features of this kind into a series illustrating the Battle of Britain…”

Benn himself said in one letter “I feel that the stamp is a true reflection of that period in our history and…will be seen as a reminder of a great victory over the evil of Nazism. Because of this I do not propose to withdraw it.” He also argued that no objections were raised to the swastika being seen in newsreel footage of German planes, and that the RAF had displayed and flown captured Nazi aircraft on numerous occasions.

Eventually criticism died down, and despite threats to boycott the stamps sales were healthy, although the GPO arranged for adequate stocks of ordinary small size stamps to be available for those who did not wish to purchase the Battle of Britain issue.

Writing in his 2002 book Design, David Gentleman reflected “the tabloids [made] a great furore over the inclusion of a swastika and an iron cross. But without an enemy there would have been no battle and, as the stamps showed the Germans getting the worst of it anyway, the whole manufactured fuss quickly died down.”

The British Postal Museum & Archive holds many files relating to the Battle of Britain stamp issue. Details of these can be found on our online catalogue.

Two new ways to get involved with the BPMA!

by Deborah Turton, Head of Access & Development

A significant part of the British Postal Museum & Archive’s work is ensuring the ongoing preservation of the collections we hold. Our Archive alone fills over two and half miles of shelving, containing items including leather-bound minutes of Post Office business, staff records, postal maps, Post Office architectural plans, plus things you wouldn’t expect – such as telegrams from the sinking Titanic and evidence from the Great Train Robbery – all demonstrating the wealth of Britain’s postal heritage.

To enable postal enthusiasts to get more involved in our work and to gain an insight into our ongoing preservation and conservation programmes we are today launching our BPMA virtual gifts scheme. The aim of the scheme is to better demonstrate what is involved in maintaining our collections and to give our audiences the opportunity to play a part in making that work happen. Our first gifts focus on two current preservation priorities: stamp artwork and GPO posters.

Preserving stamp artwork

Stuart from the Cataloguing team scans unadopted artwork from the 1994 Greetings stamps

Behind every stamp issued lies a range of early stage, final and un-adopted designs, trials, and essays: precious yet often delicate pieces of original art. The BPMA has an ongoing stamp artwork programme dedicated to preservation mounting, digitally scanning, and cataloguing this unique artwork. A £25 philatelic virtual gift will not only be a unique gift for philatelists, but will help support our efforts to preserve this material for generations to come.

Preserving posters

Please pack parcels very carefully, designed by Tom Eckersley

The BPMA is undertaking a similar programme of work for our collection of over 6,000 posters. From the 1930s onwards the Post Office became a leader in the field of poster design, commissioning some of Britain’s leading artists and designers: Tom Eckersley, Jan Lewitt and Edward McKnight Kauffer to name but a few. Publicity campaigns used posters to communicate now familiar messages including ‘Post Early’, ‘Pack Your Parcels Carefully’, and ‘Always Remember To Use Your Postcode’.

Many of our posters are fantastic examples of Twentieth-Century graphic design and deserve to be better known. To achieve this, the BPMA needs to ensure they are protected against future wear and tear and to create digital scanned reproductions that can be used to promote awareness of the posters through educational outreach and commercial licensing. A virtual poster gift of just £30 covers the cost of protectively housing a poster and the production of a high resolution digital scan of one of these much loved items.

A small ‘Thank you’

Each BPMA virtual gift comes with a greetings card to which the sender can add a personal message. Also included is a small thank-you in the form of either a free fridge magnet based on a Tom Eckersley poster design or a BPMA Commemorative cover – plus the knowledge that the gift is supporting Britain’s postal heritage for generations to come.

BPMA eBay for charity

eBay for Charity

Another way for enthusiasts to get involved is through the new BPMA eBay for charity page. We know that a lot of philatelic collectors trade on eBay so we are hoping they will think of the BPMA when they do so. Anyone selling items on eBay can choose to donate a percentage of the final selling value to a charity of their choice. Plus supporting charities entitles sellers to a free credit on their basic insertion and final value fees. Buyers also have the option of making a donation to their favourite charity at the checkout.

All BPMA eBay for Charity listings will also get a blue and yellow ‘eBay for Charity’ ribbon logo alongside the item in search results and the BPMA’s mission statement and logo will appear in the listing – all highlighting the seller’s personal commitment to preserving and promoting access to Britain’s postal heritage. Listings will also get extra visibility through the eBay for Charity pages. The eBay for charity web pages explain how it all works and list the full range of good causes the scheme supports.

We are always looking for new ways to involve people in our work preserving and celebrating Britain’s postal heritage and are always pleased to hear from those keen to support our work. Further ways to get more involved with the BPMA are included in the Support us section of our website.

New items on our online catalogue

Earlier today we uploaded more than 4000 new records to our online catalogue, bringing the total available to the public to 81,238. The BPMA online catalogue records information about many of the objects and archive material in our collection, allowing anyone to search for it online before visiting us. Not everything we hold at the BPMA has been catalogued as yet, but we currently have 10 staff working full time to put this right. 

A special handstamp from the first flight of the Aerial Post between Windsor and Hendon in 1911

Some of the cataloguing team have been writing progress reports for this blog and now you can see the results of their work online. New to the catalogue are 2520 slogan dies, 841 objects from the Wilkinson Collection, 402 King George V black proof sheets, 440 handstamps and 158 records about the stamp artwork from the era of King Edward VIII.

Among the 440 handstamps are some real gems, such as special handstamps from the first flight of the Aerial Post between Windsor and Hendon in 1911. There is also an Aycliffe Penny Post handstamp from 1839-1843, and a group of handstamps used on board S.S Quest on the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition in 1921-2.

Also of interest are handstamps formerly belonging to the British Post Office in Rio de Janeiro. These were returned to the GPO in November 1896 from the British Consulate, where they had lain since 30th June 1874 when the British Post Office in Brazil closed.

A photograph of King Edward VIII by Hugh Cecil, used on the definitives issued in 1936.

The digitisation of all stamps, proposed stamps, and album artwork from the reign of Edward VIII will be of particular interest to philatelists. The death of King George V on 20th January 1936, and the consequent accession of Edward VIII resulted in ambitious plans from the Post Office. It was decided that there would be three possible stamp issues, a temporary “Accession” issue, which would be replaced by a special “Coronation” issue, and finally a “Permanent” issue.

One of the King Edward VIII definitives issued in 1936

While four accession stamps were issued in September 1936, the King’s abdication three months later brought work on the Coronation and Permanent issue stamps to an abrupt end. However, there is still a wealth of material in the BPMA collections, including all the work which went into creating the four Accession definitives – photographs, artwork, essays and issued stamps – and all artwork and essays produced for the Coronation and Permanent issue stamps, produced right up to the week of the abdication.

To access the new material on the online catalogue please follow these links:
King George V black proof sheets
King Edward VIII stamp artwork
The Wilkinson Collection
Slogan dies
Handstamps