Culture

Daniel Defoe’s book “Robinson Crusoe” is regarded as the first true English novel. It is also the first novel with a first-person narrator. Crusoe ends up on an uninhabited island where, after some time, he experiences various adventures with his…

In the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries, travelling via the railway was the most comfortable and practical way of covering the often great distances between towns and cities. The first stations were built in the 1830s…

On 15 April 1912, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean and sank within three hours, with the loss of more than 1,500 lives. Recent events, with the tragic loss of life of those in the OceanGate Expeditions’ “Titan”…

The Spaniard Juan Sebastián de Elcano and the Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan were navigators and explorers who jointly sailed under the flag of both Portugal and Spain. Magellan organised an expedition to the East Indies from 1519 to 1522, which resulted…

Here we have a very small selection of stamps recently added to PostBeeld’s vast stock. Please visit PostBeeld’s website for a more comprehensive view of newly-added items. In 1906 Mauritania, at that time a French Colony, issued its first postage…

This set of four stamps feature the Isle of Man’s renowned ‘three legs’ triskelion, one of the oldest continually-used national symbols in the world. The ‘three legs of Man’ symbol can be seen everywhere on the Island, on historical buildings,…

Around the World in Eighty Days is a travel adventure novel by French author Jules Verne (1828-1905), that was published in book form in 1873. Jules Verne is often referred to as being the father of science fiction – his books are…

Our last Black Heritage series article brought us up to the year 2019. Now we’ve reached 2023 and the 46th stamp in the series issued by America’s United States Postal Service. So we begin with 2020’s stamp that featured Gwen…

This set of five charity stamps shown above were issued by Italy in 1935 to benefit and commemorate the work of Benito Mussolini’s Fascist National Militia. The 20+10 cent stamp shows volunteer militia members round a ceremonial fire; 25+15c has a standard bearer; 50+30c depicts…

The last set of new stamps showing the late Queen Elizabeth II’s silhouette has been issued by Great Britain’s Royal Mail. This particular feature has appeared on special stamps since 1968. The magnificent prestige stamp booklet at top celebrates the centenary…

Since we last featured the topic of lighthouses in 2019 there have been many great issues for the collector. Here we’ve made a selection from those produced in the three years up to and including 2022. Naturally if you visit…

In 2023 Great Britain’s Royal Mail issued yet another in its series of stamps celebrating the careers of famous British rock bands and musicians, this time featuring the “Heavy Metal” band Iron Maiden. Inexplicably to many heavy metal musicians and…

Here is a very small selection from the hundreds of stamps added daily to PostBeeld’s vast stock. For a better insight you are welcome to visit the company’s websites. In 2001 this beautiful stamp sheet was produced by Botswana. It…

There are many postage stamps featuring imaginary characters from children’s stories and in 2002 Australia issued a stamp set showing figures from a book written for kids by Australian author John Marsden. Beginning top left we have: the Gnome; the…

The person featured on the 2017 Black Heritage stamp was Dorothy Height (1912-2010). She fought long and hard for the rights of women, especially women of colour. Height helped to form the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971. She was…

Crypto stamps have attracted younger people to look at stamp collecting from a completely different angle and the popularity of these items has seen more countries being involved with issuing crypto stamps. Above is the first Crypto stamp. Österreichische Post…