According to Wikipedia, a vacation is a leave of absence from a regular occupation, or a specific trip or journey, usually for the purpose of recreation or tourism. In the United Kingdom, the word vacation once specifically referred to the long summer break taken by the law courts and then later the term was applied to universities. The custom was introduced by William the Conqueror … Continue reading A Thousand and One Posts…Going on Vacation!
The Courrières mine disaster, Europe’s worst mining accident, caused the death of 1,099 miners in northern France on March 10, 1906. This disaster was surpassed only by the Benxihu Colliery accident in China on April 26, 1942, which killed 1,549 miners. A coaldust explosion, the cause of which is not known with certainty, devastated a coal mine operated by the Compagnie des mines de houille … Continue reading The Mining Disaster at Courrières
On February 26, 1815, Napoléon Bonaparte escaped from the island of Elba. The French emperor had been exiled there after his forced abdication following the Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1814. He arrived at Portoferraio on May 30, 1814, and was allowed to keep a personal guard of 600 men. Napoléon was nominally sovereign of Elba, although the nearby sea was patrolled by the French and … Continue reading Napoléon Makes His Prison Break
Until just a couple of months ago, I did not know that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), or Organisation des Nations unies pour l’éducation, la science et la culture as it is called in French, has issued its own postage stamps since 1961. These are valid for postage only on mail posted from UNESCO Headquarters or Maison de l’UNESCO at number … Continue reading UNESCO and the World Heritage Site at Kotor
This has been a very literary year on A Stamp A Day thus far with stamps highlighting authors such as H.G. Wells, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allan Poe, Jack London, and Charles Dickens — all writers that I grew up reading as many of their books and stories as I could get a hold on. Today, the highlight is on yet … Continue reading Jules Verne
Arriving at today’s stamp was a bit of a process. First of all, I rejected all of the anniversaries I came across using Wikipedia’s Days of the Year category as resoundingly too gruesome (for those topics discarded, please see my “Weekly Phila-Bytes #2019-04” article on Philatelic Pursuits). The one anniversary for this date that interested me even remotely was one for which I didn’t have … Continue reading Claude Lorrain and the Seaport at Sunset
On January 6, circa 1412, Joan of Arc was born in Domrémy, a village which was then in the French part of the Duchy of Bar. The daughter of peasants Jacques d’Arc and Isabelle Romée, known as Jeanne d’Arc in French and nicknamed “The Maid of Orléans” (La Pucelle d’Orléans), Joan of Arc is considered a heroine of France for her role during the Lancastrian … Continue reading Joan of Arc
It’s October now, which to philatelists in the United States and the Philippines means that it’s once again National Stamp Collecting Month. The month is also home to International Letter Writing Week and World Post Day as well as national Stamp Days for a number of stamp-issuing entities. The U.S. Postal Service has promoted Stamp Collecting Month with thematic issues and local events since 1981. … Continue reading Welcome to National Stamp Collecting Month 2018! – PHILATEC 1964 at Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées Paris
A Stamp A Day 