Issues for Guernsey Post
A selection of stamps, first day covers and presentation packs
Issue: Guernsey Press 200 Years Commemorative Issue, 1813 -2013
In June 2013, The Guernsey Press and Star marks 200 years of serving the island. This commemorative issue features three pairs of stamps that are interpretations of six key front pages with the mastheads, typefaces and images all drawn from the original editions.
Pair one features the inaugural issue of the publication in June 1813 and the 200th year edition in 2013. Born as The Star or Guernsey Weekly Advertiser, the paper was absorbed by The Guernsey Evening Press in 1965 to become The Guernsey Evening Press and Star.
The second pair commemorates two British monarchs who celebrated Diamond Jubilees in the Press’ lifetime. Queen Victoria celebrated 60 years as Queen in 1897, the year that the first issue of The Guernsey Evening Press was published. Elizabeth II celebrated the 60th Anniversary of her Coronation in 2013 as The Press celebrates its 200th Birthday. The 71p stamp shows how the occasion was marked by the newspaper in 1953.
The final pair illustrates one of the most definitive chapters in Guernsey’s history - the German Occupation from 1940 to 1945. The front page on 2 July, was devoted to the ‘Orders of the Commandant’. The green postage stamp was produced by The Guernsey Press’ commercial print department in 1941 when supplies of British stamps ran out. The islands were liberated in 1945 and The Press heralded the freedom with a triumphant headline and illustration. The 9th May edition holds the record for the highest single day’s circulation in the newspaper’s history, with 17,585 copies sold.
Collateral: sheets of 10, presentation pack and first day cover (photos to follow once published at the end of the month).
Issue: 150th Anniversary of the death of Florence Nightingale
Responsible for: research, concept development, design and copywriting
Designed in collaboration with: Tom Langford (photography by Tom Warry)
Agency: The Potting Shed
Issue: 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
Agency: freelance
“I cannot think of anything that would have pleased my aunt Mary Ann more than these stamps. There is something so delightfully approving about a stamp; it seems to say that the book has entered into the collective culture. But more than that, stamps go on letters - they are the first thing to admire about a letter, in fact - and then you open the envelope and then you pull out the thin paper and crinkle it open and begin the newest instalment of the story you are dying to read. To see our story so beautifully captured in stamps is like looking through tiny windows to find that The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is real - and what could be better than that?” Annie Barrows
“I cannot think of anything that would have pleased my aunt Mary Ann more than these stamps. There is something so delightfully approving about a stamp; it seems to say that the book has entered into the collective culture. But more than that, stamps go on letters - they are the first thing to admire about a letter, in fact - and then you open the envelope and then you pull out the thin paper and crinkle it open and begin the newest instalment of the story you are dying to read. To see our story so beautifully captured in stamps is like looking through tiny windows to find that The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is real - and what could be better than that?” Annie Barrows
First Day Cover envelope, based on Dawseys collection of Juliet's letters bound in one of her hair ribbons. The letter bears the British 1946 Victory stamp.
