My father was a stamp collector. When I was very young, he tried to share the hobby with me – and failed. All I remember are endless sessions sitting at a table covered in green felt, being scolded for breathing too hard on the silly little paper squares…

Usually Dad knew how to grasp my interest, so I can’t imagine why he never thought of really showing me what the silly little squares depicted… Even as a child, I would have loved history- themed stamps, or literary ones, like the British stamps from the collection of James M. Hutchisson, to be found at this link.

It’s interesting to see which books and authors are chosen, and how they are portrayed to go traveling around on letters and postcards.