| |
The front of the fourth interleaf shows
Czeslaw Slania
engraving the image for a postage stamp on a die.
The text reads:
Polish-born Czeslaw Slania has earned himself a place in the Guiness Book of Records as the world’s
most prominent and prolific stamp engraver. Now in his late seventies, the eminent master-craftsman
has worked most extensively for the Swedish Post Office, but has also produced stamps for postal authorities
all over the world. He is the inheritor of a centuries-old skill that has been practiced by some of
the gratest artists, including Rubens, Rembrandt and Dürer. His dexterity and attention to detail
is quite remarkable; he has the ability to engrave at an astonishing 10 lines per millimetre. Slania’s
versatility is evident in the broad range of subject matter he happily tackles, from royal portraits and
flora and fauna to film stars. He even finds time (and space) to include the odd personal reference within
his miniscule canvas: a caricature of himself or the names of friends.
|
|
| |
The back of the fourth interleaf describes the letterpress
printing process and shows images of some of the equipment used in the process. The stamp pictured
at the upper right is the four penny lilac of 1855, the first British stamp printed by this process.
The text on the interleaf is:
Like intaglio, letterpress has strong craft roots. The oldest mechanical form of printing, it is a
“relief process,” whereby the printed area is raised above areas which do not print. In
the mid-nineteenth century, immaculately hard-carved woodcuts had become the preferred method of
illustrating books, and even today specialist presses continue the tradition. Over the years, letterpress
became more streamlined and mechanised. Instead of wood, type and photographic images were cast in lead
and then locked together in a metal forme to make the printing master. The surface is inked and pressed deep
into the paper, leaving a rich, even image; the beauty of letterpress is its 3D tactile quality. British
postage stamps were first printed letterpress in 1855 by De La Rue. The process remained popular until
the late 1960s, particularly for the printing of newspapers.
|
|
