Birds and Words, Redux

Letterology is on Fall break again this week as I am preparing for the opening of the Camp Stories, Illustrated exhibit at the University of Puget Sound Collins Library in Tacoma, this coming Saturday. Instead, I bring you re-runs of some of my favorites from the Letterology attic. Thanks for your patience!

In my mind, this set of 1959 Czechoslovakian postage stamps are some of the most beautiful I have seen. They are designed by painter, illustrator, lettering artist, teacher and stage designer Karel Svolinsky (1896-1986) and engraved by Jirka Ladislav. The illustrations of the birds with the lovely script lettering, and the high quality multi-color engravings, set these Czech stamps apart as works of art. More of Svolinsky's postage stamp artwork can be seen in two of my earlier posts here and here, and in this handsome set of original lithographed Winter solstice postcards from 1948 from the Letterology Archives.

The Tax Man

So it's tax day in the States today and I'm feeling a bit like a squeezed lemon. I wish the IRS could at least have a heart to send me some nice revenue stamps like these just for the occasion. 

The first cigar revenue tax stamp was issued in 1863 and continued to be issued until 1956 when the law changed to allow cigar makers to pay their taxes by making returns directly to the IRS. This lovely engraved IRS stamp above was issued in 1878 as proof of tax paid on cigars. It is designed to wrap entirely around a cigar box, and measures 1.5 x 16 inches long. I photographed it in sections in order to show the stunning detail of the engraver's artwork.
     The Dalley's Magical Pain Extractor revenue stamp below was seen on eBay last August from this dealer. I suspect the IRS saw no irony in extracting this painful tax from the pain extractor. 

Medicine tax stamp for the J.C. Ayer & Co. Undated. Found here. The old cigar revenue stamps below are from Vintage Me O My, where you can see even more of them. Wouldn't it be nice if IRS stood for Interesting Revenue Stamp rather than the Internal Revenue Service?

This revenue stamp was likely issued during the Civil War. Due to the high cost of financing the war effort, Congress passed a law to tax photographers at that time.

And DO NOT, under any circumstances remove this bedding tag from here under penalty of law or you will have to answer to the State of South Carolina who issued this bedding tax stamp. 

Streetwise Signage in Victorian England

Street Life in London, published in 1876-77, when photography was still in its infancy. This book of essays and photos is highly regarded as an important work in the history of documentary photography. It consists of a series of short individual articles by the "radical socialist journalist" (as he was often referred), Adolphe Smith and photography by the Scottish photojournalist John Thomson (1837-1921). Smith portrayed the lives of impoverished tradesmen and women, such as flower sellers, street doctors, fishmongers and chimney sweeps, who eked out a living on the streets of London in the second half of the 19th century. Their work was originally published as a monthly series and soon after reissued in book form as Street Life. Their intention was never artistic, but it was to inform the middle class of the plight of the poor and homeless working class. Thomson's 21 brown-tone photos were reproduced photomechanically by the difficult and now obsolete Woodburytype process which resulted in a strikingly sharp, almost three-dimensional quality with a wide tonal range. When this book was published, it marked the first collection of social documentary photographs anywhere in the world. Moreover, it brought readers some empathy for the tradesmen and women and gave these poor people a small measure of dignity. View the full text of this book here.  

"Tickets" as this gentleman was known, made the acquaintance of a Frenchman who possessed considerable skill as a signpainter, and soon they entered into a partnership. "Tickets" would wander about and take note of poor and tattered signage and sales promotions and then press the shop owners to purchase freshly painted versions from his signpainter friend. 

The advertising trade provided a great deal of employment to destitute individuals in London. The men who pasted advertisements or bills were called "bill-stickers" and considered to be less ambitious, but a more respectable lot than the boardmen who were walking billboards. The bill-stickers often worked 12 hour days, pasting advertisements on wall spaces around London. This became a very competitive business in mid-19th century London. As soon as one bill was pasted, a rival bill-sticker would come along and paste another in its place.  

The London Boardmen were regarded as some of the most unfortunate of street people who let themselves out for hire as walking advertisements. Young children and old men who performed this unskilled sandwich-board labor were frequently insulted and abused, which was considered fair play of the day. Their street-walking services were generally contracted out and they would often be paid just 2 shillings per day, and a 25% fee as compensation for the trouble they endured. 
::Gratitude to LSE Library for their Flickr set on the Street Life of London, as well as the actual LSE Digital Library. 

Lettered Stamps

It is difficult to believe in today's social marketing climate that these small poster stamps were once considered a very popular form of advertising, but during the first half of the last century, stamps were used to advertise everything from bicycles, expositions, printing, to sewing machines (as you will see below). In the world of stamp collecting, they are referred to as cinderellas, as they are not government issue postal stamps. They were often affixed to mailing envelopes however, and given away as promotions to encourage people to collect entire series. Their artwork was prized for being miniature posters and collector clubs sprang up across many countries. Today the collecting frenzy continues, and they are still considered affordable and desirable. With rare exceptions you will find costs vary between $1 to $5 at paper shows in the states, but you can purchase them in large lots if you aren't particular about the subject matter. On one of my recent visits to a local paper show I found this 1931 Hungarian poster stamp advertising the 700th anniversary of St. Anta—my favorite of the bunch here. It inspired me to dig deeper for more initials on advertising stamps, which proved to be a difficult challenge. My search revealed only two others in this group, while others required a more ambitious digital dig.

A Swedish poster stamp advertising the Dürkopp sewing machine. No date.

Undated German poster stamp for the Dietrich Vesta sewing machine. Interesting that the style of the D is very similar to the Dürkopp stamp above. Now available on eBay for a limited time.

1929 poster stamp for an international exhibition of motorcycles. A great example of the Italian Futurist Movement of that era. This is from a low-rez Flickr image of other very nice motorcycle stamps.

Who knew that women sewing away behind giant letters was such a popular theme back in the day? This undated German poster stamp for Pfaff sewing machines is now available on eBay for a limited time.

This German poster stamp is from the Konigl Fachingen series seen below which promote their natural mineral water. They are all from a 2008 poster stamp and mail art exhibit at the Oberlin Clarence Ward Art Library. All other poster stamps in this post are from my own archives unless otherwise noted.

Celebrating Printer's Labor

I'm just returning from a long holiday weekend celebrating Labor Day by not working. I have lots of material saved up to share this week, but will begin with this 1939 US stamp commemorating the 300th anniversary of the first working printing press in the US; The Stephen Daye Press in Cambridge, Massachusetts. By my count that now makes it 372 years ago. The first published work from the press was a broadside, The Freeman's Oath, followed by an 8 page Almanac for 1639 and the first published book in the US, the nearly 300 page Bay Psalm Book. You can find an interesting account of this first press here or if that's too much work, kick back and listen to the audio clip of it instead.

Gill on Stamp Design

Eric Gill | Notes on Postage Stamps, a 24 page book from the Kat Ran Press contains 56 full-color illustrations and an essay by Gill on his philatelic ideas and opinions. The portraits in the 2 stamps above were designed by Edmund Dulac with the lettering, crown and small ornaments by Eric Gill. This book is available for purchase from Kat Ran Press. They also keep a wonderful archive listed here of other distinguished type designers who have created postage stamps and other assorted philatelic materials. All of their names are clickable here.
:: From mrussem's Flickrsteam.

Cinderellas and the FBI

A couple of months ago I attended a local paper show and met a new dealer there with a lot of cinderella stamps. The stamps above are a couple of the cinderellas I found that day. Although he was a very knowledgeable dealer, he couldn't recall their origin. They appear to be selvedge, or a border strip at the edge of a printed sheet. In this case they are engraved with a pattern of nicely script Es, Ds, Gs and what appears to be either a cap I or a T. I am puzzled over these little stamps, but do enjoy them.
      Side story...after a lengthy conversation, I learned this paper dealer was a former undercover FBI plant during the 60s and hung out with members of the Black Panthers and the Weather Underground in order to gather information. He had some amazzzing and very convincing stories to tell about drug running and the life of an undercover agent. He could recall every detail of conversations, parties and events he attended with these political activists. Coincidently he also happened to know my father who was another FBI guy dealing with interstate bank robbers and crimestopping in that era. Our conversation made for a very entertaining afternoon of ephemera and espionage. He is now retired from the FBI and collects cars and blimp ephemera. Go figure. Below are a few more cinderellas, cancelled stamps and poster stamps I picked up from my new dealer friend that same day.