08.02.10 - The Stamp with the Luminous Nose
Jersey Post is issuing a stamp that glows in the dark as part of a Europe-wide stamp issue celebrating popular children’s story books.
Having chosen Edward Lear’s Dong with the Luminous Nose to feature on the 80p stamp, Jersey Post asked the artist Michael Pollard – an accomplished book illustrator – to pay particular attention to the artwork when painting the nose. During the stamp printing process Cartor Security Printers of France applied a luminous ink to the end of the Dong’s nose so that after the stamp is held close to a light it really does glow in the dark.
The theme, Children’s Books, was chosen by PostEurop - the governing body of European Postal Administrations - for the Europa 2010 stamp issue. Jersey Post is one of the 48 PostEurop members.
In addition to Lear’s character, Jersey Post chose the Pushmi-Pullyu from Dr Doolittle by Hugo Lofting, Rudyard Kipling’s How the Elephant Got its Trunk and the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, as it has become known, from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to complete the issue.
The First Day Cover depicts Lear’s Owl and the Pussycat and the Presentation Pack features a very colourful scene of an open book with many well-known characters from favourite children’s stories bursting out from every page. Other Jersey Post stamp issues painted by Mr Pollard include Christmas Illuminations, Favourite Fairy Tales and the Centenary of the Battle of Flowers.
The Children’s Books stamps are one of two sets of new Jersey postage stamps being issued on 9 February.
The second issue, Jersey Maps, comprises five, self-adhesive stamps for use on items of mail for the other Channel Islands and the UK and will bear the wording ‘UK Letter’ instead of the current description ‘Minimum UK Postage.’
The stamps were inspired by maps from 1685 to the satellite plotted modern-day map and were painted by stamp artist, Andrew Robinson. Mr Robinson is based in England and has been working with Jersey Post since 2005. Jersey Maps will be the 15th issue he has created and previous titles include Jersey Scenery, the 50th anniversary of the Jersey Surfboard Club in 2009 and Jersey Militia II.
Jersey Post’s Susanne Lowman and Melanie Gouzinis drew on the historic resources of Jersey Heritage, the Société Jersiaise and the Jersey Library in their research.
Mrs Gouzinis said that the antique maps on display in the Jersey Museum were the original inspiration for this stamp issue, including the Dumaresq 1685 upon which one of the stamps is based.
‘The First Day Cover envelope and Presentation Pack were also inspired by maps on show at the Jersey Museum. The Map of Jersey by an Officer dated 1782, shows the parish outlines and curiously titled ‘rivers’ and was made to show the Island’s defences following the attack by the French and the Battle of Jersey in 1781. The Richmond Map from 1795 was the result of the Master of the Board of Ordnance, the Duke of Richmond, arranging for the Island to be surveyed. As it was an area which continued to be thought of as being most at risk of being invaded by the French, it was not made available to the public for 50 years,’ she said.
The Jersey Library also has a plentiful selection of old maps which can be viewed on request and the British Press map of 1844 was the inspiration for another of the stamps. Historic Jersey maps can also be viewed at the Lord Coutanche Library at the Société Jersiaise in Pier Road, where copies of selected maps are on sale.