06 November 2015
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Penny Black
Images of the famous 1840 1d Black 'Penny Black' stamp feature in the newly launched UK passport.
Images of the famous 1840 1d Black 'Penny Black' stamp feature in the newly launched UK passport.
Updated every five years, the UK passport features watermarked images across the pages showing British imagery.
The new passport design, unveiled at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre, features images of the Penny Black stamp on visa pages 12 and 13.
Paul Skinner, Lead Curator Philatelic Collections, said: 'This was at the height of the industrial revolution, and the improved postal system was not only a great boon to commercial activity, but provided the means to communicate with dispersed friends and family as people moved from the countryside to the towns in search of work. It was a catalyst for improving literacy in the general population.'
The visa page also features the old Birmingham General Post Office, a stamped postcard, a map of London, a Victorian Post Box and a Jacob Perkins press, an example of which is on display at the British Library on the Upper Ground Floor, adjacent to the Philatelic Collections Exhibition.
The new passport designs also feature British icons including William Shakespeare, Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, and Anish Kapoor, as well as landmarks such as the Angel of the North and the Titanic Belfast.
Read more about the British Library Philatelic Collections in every issue of Stamp & Coin Mart.