OUR INARTISTIC STAMPS.

Hokitika Guardian, 5 March 1931, Page 2

OUR INARTISTIC STAMPS.

“The first postage stamp of all was issued by England, and was a stamp whose dignity and elegance of design lias never been excelled. The ‘black penny’ of 1840 is a beautiful stamp, with a beauty due not only to its reproductive process (in those days and for small numbers engraving, which would not be too expensive, was economically possible), but also to its simplicity. In any corporate capacity we seem unable to realise any longer that th« simple, if it be right in proportion, is more beautiful than the elaborate. As a result, we send all over the world little bits Of paper, each one of which is a mortifying betrayal of the spiritless and antiquated taste bf those appointed t 6 debide Out national designs. Take a net Of theciiffent English stamps and Study them. What is wtohg? Ask rather whnt is right. The designs are lmrdly designs at all; they are crowded agglomerations of wreaths and ribbons and dolphins and poor conventional lettering and numerals. The colours (with one or two exceptions) are thin, and, what is worse, utterly ordinary.”—Mr Michael Sadleir in the “Nin iteenth Century.”