Inquiring Readers, my friend and frequent contributor, Tony Grant, sent me a gift that went straight to my heart – the Royal Mail’s new Jane Austen stamps. These were printed to mark the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice. The packaging, as you can see from my scans, is divine, with Jane’s name printed in a font based on her handwriting.
For a lucky few, letters that were posted during a designated week in Chawton in Hampshire, where she lived during the last 8 years of her life, and in Steventon near Basingstoke, where she spent her first 20 or so years, will bear a special postmark. To read the information on the packaging, click on the images.
In the scan below the Pride and Prejudice stamp is blown up and sits in the center. Again, click on the image to read the text.
Elizabeth views Darcy’s portrait as she wanders through Pemberley, guided by the housekeeper and escorted by her aunt and uncle. The scans overlap a bit. In the one below you can see the six stamps affixed at the bottom.
The special postmark for the set features the Pride And Prejudice quote: “Do anything rather than marry without affection.” Royal Mail’s Andrew Hammond said: “It is an honour for Royal Mail to commemorate [Jane Austen’s] work.”
Illustrator Angela Barrett was commissioned to illustrate the six stamps that make up the st. One can only wish that somewhere up in heaven she and her family are aware of how very far her fame has spread. If you will note, the Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice stamps make up the first class stamps.
In 2007, a BBC poll for World Book Day voted Pride and Prejudice as the book most respondents could not live without. – BBC News
Published in 1813, Pride and Prejudice was Austen’s second novel and she described it as her “own darling child”. – The Guardian
Below are the enlarged stamps of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.
Information and images from Express, Gazette, Radio Times, and BBC News.
Thank you, Tony, from the bottom of my heart. These Jane Austen stamps are the perfect gift for a Janeite.
Jane Austen's World 