asterpieces o Ensravins on Postage Stamps 1840 ~ 1940 By ROBSON LOWE NFLD HE 6183 E5 L69 1943 _ i fa. terpiect!s ol Lnsravins Cl/1 !f>ostase ~ftatnp .....- 1840 = 19-10 1.--<' I ,......._J _ ..._ . ... ..._ . 1 --..c t < f :a• t ~-o t ~- 1 ~ 1 - a: - t --- J ·-. I ---"" 1 'i ~ I '\ I ) \" L ( i i 1 r l L ;- ~ ~ ? ~ ::tJ.,. •. ·- 1 -• l • 1 •• 1 · I • 1 - 1 ~ 1 - f •• l =-- 1 -- 1 J -- I - 1 "- J -· l •c i ~- L •· I -- l -· J - 1 >...- l - I "- 1 - J - 1"" - 1 · 1 - J - \ · 1 ·· 1 •· 1 •• 1 • l .. , -- . --.-.~-a:- - ~ liy .\ . E. CIJ:tlon. ]! _\ . 1\14/. !IE 6/?g £5" L'9 I ?Lf :S asterpieces of Ensravin,g 011 :fc)stase(jj) J tarrzps' 1840=1940 By Robson Lowe SEP 2 4 2009 London: Published by tf1e Posta[ History Society 501 Pall Ma!C S.W. 1 Page Foreword 5 Introduction 7 London Pride 9 The Judgment of Paris 44 Belgian Beauty 57 The Dutch School 60 European Elegance 65 A Miscellany of Art 69 The Chamber of Horrors 83 Index 94 1943: P1inted by WOOD & SON , 5 Mill Street, Perth. Blocks by THE DIRECT PHOTO ENGRA VI NG CO., LTD., 38 Farrinqdon Street, London , E.C.4. Dear Folks , This book has been written for you and those like you, who may know little about postage stamps but can recognise those that attain a certain standard of beauty. In some sense this is your book, for such sense of beauty that you bred in me must be reflected here ; it certainly would not have been written if you had not fostered my enthusiasm for stamp collecting some thirty years ago. One is attracted to stamps for a variety of reasons. They may be crudities manufactured in the backwoods for a pioneer postal service, they may have an interesting history, their use and their cancellation may be the point of attraction or they may be beautiful examples of printing, but, providing they have character, for me they have charm and hold my interest. On these pages I have looked at stamps between mental blinkers so as to shut out all but the artistic side. In spite of this, I have undoubtedly incl uded some stamps which will not coincide with the reader's standard of art, and omitted many which he considers splendid and I think beastly. That is as may be. Undoubtedly stones will be thrown for the inclusion of many popular stamps in "The Chamber of Horrors." The allocation of some of the fine engravings to the burin of a certain engraver has been done after studying the views of several authorities and enlarging stamps through an epidiascope to confirm my own opm1on where it differed from others. The idea of writing this book came from seeing the interesting collection of postage stamps formed by Professor Charles Seltman of Queens ' College, Cambridge, and many comments and illustrations have been based on his volumes. q \ 1asterpieces o/ Lnsra\'in... : In addition to Professor Seltman I gratefully acknowledge the loan of treasures that are illustrated here to my friends, Mr. H . C: V. Adams, Mr. J. Beresford, Dr. J. Morton Evans, Mr. Edward Granger, Miss Ethel Harper, Col. L. T. Rose-Hutchinson, and Sir Nicholas Waterhouse. I am particularly indebted to Sir John Wilson, Bt., and Mr. H. R. Holmes fo r their kind and generous assistance in reading the proofs and to the printers and the blockmakers for their painstaking work. From this you will see that the book is really nothing to do with me. may turn its pages with a possessive pleasure like the false pride of the midwife dandling the child for which she has just opened the door t.o the world but it makes it no more mine. It is in the hope that the book wi ll prove the perfect bedside companion (three pages and you are fast asleep) that I am sending it to you. Yours affectionately, R. L. November I st , 1943. Works of Reference : THE ENCYCLOI'fEDIA BRITT ANICA. THE LO:--JDON PHILATELl ST. STANLEY GIBBONS STAMP CATALOGUE. POSTAGE STAMPS IN THE MAKING, by Fred ] . Melville. HEN studyino· stamps fro1n the arti tic ,-ie\vpo.int it is of little importance wh(l ordered and who used the labels. GW The chief questions are ,,·ho made the1n, and \\·hen, ancl \\·here? l\Io t oi the best stan1ps have been made in Lonclon and in Paris. Bad tan1p haYe been marle in both cities ancl these will he clealt \\·ith in a separate article. Other places which haYe earned credit are l\ 1a lines, I-Iaar lem, Peters burg and Corfu. There is a sound commercial reason {or fine art in the production of aclhesiYe postage stamps as it 1ninimises the risk of forgery. For the same reason. a portrait i the most suitable subject for the stamp desig-n. In 1VI rs. Smyth's biography of her iather. Sir Rowland I-Iill.* one ma\· read" there is one art \Yhich we nnconsciou. ly practise from infancy to old age- that of tracing dif( erences in the h urn an faces we Inert with. It is this art or instinct which enable u to distinguish {riencls fron1 stranger : a nd it was, perhaps. recognition of this {act that long ago led to the placing on the coinage of the portrait of the reigning monarch. because it was familiar to the public eye, and therefore less likely than any other face to he c·oun tedei ted. In an engra ,·ing of some well-kno\vn countenance. any thickening or mi placing of the facial lines makes so great an alteration in feat nres and expression that fo rger)· is far more easih· detected than when the device is only a coat-of-arms or other fanciful ornament.'' Since these \YOrds were written. the improvement in manufacture has, to some extent, lessened the value of art as a deterrent to forgery. ---., ;; 7 ( 1) SIZE. A stamp is an adhesive label for the prepayment of the carriac.?,·e of a letter or packet hy the postal service. Since it is usually licked it must he ea y on the tongue: therefore not too large. :\ 1r. I-f eath 's penn)· and twopence o{ 1840 ·were of the most convenient ize, since one- or a pair- could conveniently he licked. No single stamps should exceed the size of t\n) 1840 stamP- . *" :-\ir newland Hill: tiH· :-\tory of a (:rl'at ltdOI'Jll .. by ~[rs. EIPHIIOI' ('. :-\m.rtli. London, 1!107. T. Fii-<ht·l· L'mdn. 7 q'1asterpieccs of' Lnsravt'ns (II) DESIGN. The good stan1p n1ust be s1nall and, being a 1111111ature, fine in detail. Therefore subjects suitab-le for <.1 stan1p are fe\Y. They are the follo~wing :-(a) heads. half-figures, figures: (b) heraldic blazons, and supporters; (c) pictures of single \Yorks of art, single ani1nals, single n1achines. All landscapes. buildings, n1aps, and groups are unsuitable, for posters and advertisen1ents make bad sta1nps. (Ill) PRINTING. There are five methods :-(i) recess printin~.­ fron1 engraved plates, ( ii) em bossing. (iii) surface printing, (iv) lithograph~''· ( v) photogravure. The first and last n1ethods give the best results. The paper should contribute to the stamp's fineness, and coloured paper frequently increases the cesthetic effect. (IV) COLOUR. The colour of an~ - single starnp must be pleasing in itself and one stan1p should not have n1ore than two colours. Pastel shades are unsuitable. A sta1np should by its colour contribute to the gaiety of the set to which it belongs, and the whole set n1ust be either a harn1ony or a riot of colour. r\ stan1p, or a set of stamps, 11lllSt therefore he exa1nined critically for cesthetic value under four heads: (I) SIZE, (II) DESIGN, (Ill) PRINTING. (I\T) COLOUR. The postal adhesive label was a ne\,. invention in the year 1840. Under the inspiration of a fe\v men in London- VVillian1 Wyon, 'Sir Rowland Hill, Henry Corboulcl, Jacob Perkins, Charles and Frederick Heath- it sprang into being as a thing of beauty, confronting the world \vith a new art type, the n1asterpiece of the Early Victorian Era. The n1akers maintained their high standard for a quarter of a century. Paris, which only began to make stau1ps nine years after London, 1naintained for many years an eqnal degree of excellence. New York, Philadelphia, Brussels, Utrecht, Berlin, Dresden and Palermo all produced good stan1ps before 1860: but quality quickly declined the world over, and it was not long before pictorial posters and social and political propaganda began to intrude then1selves on to that which, as a forn1 of coinage, should have displayed only the dignity of the State. In our day very few first rate postal labels are made except in Paris, Haarlen1, Malines, and especially London, \vhich once again leads. This is not to say that these four cities n1ake no bad stan1ps, for they n1ake n1an y; hut they are al o rnaking all the be t. 8 Cj) . I J rzcic " .\" o, :-)ir, 'IL•hcu 11 1111111 is tired of L ondou, ltc is tired of life; for lltcrc is in Lowlull ull ilwl life Cllll o_!Jord." - ~HlllU(-'] .Tohn:-:m1 in a lPtt(-'r to Hn:-:\\·l'll. :20 ~Ppt .. 1777. ,--------- --------------- ---------- - ---· ,·Tflis cflclpfcr Cl/zfy ;/fu_,frafc., .mch dtY!Jc.,i\'C fX'> _,f,d lafn•l, d .\ ell/din true C'\cc//cncc anJ c1s /1<1\'l' !wen JII<Zclc \\'it/1 tin· c~ic/ L'>/ tfH' I \~n . j lumplny\/ j !cnry cL._.l"[,L">tt!cl, LclwarJ ) !cnry c-:orbou!J Clzarlcs I !cnry {lccn'/ J I.