Royal Mail’s Jane Austen collectors sheet begins a Celebrating Britain series

By David Hartwig

On Dec. 16 Great Britain’s Royal Mail celebrates the 250th birth anniversary of author Jane Austen (1775–1817) with a sheet of 10 Union Flag definitive stamps with se-tenant (side-by-side) labels.

“Marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of one of Britain’s most beloved literary figures,” Royal Mail said, “this exquisitely designed Jane Austen Collectors Sheet is a tribute to her enduring legacy.”

The self-adhesive Union Flag definitive stamps are denominated at the first-class rate (currently £1.70). The labels show Austen’s cottage (now the Jane Austen’s House museum) and artifacts stored there.

According to the Jane Austen’s House website at https://janeaustens.house, Jane Austen spent the last eight years of her life in this Hampshire cottage, where she wrote, revised and had published the novels Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

Today, the house is a museum with an extensive collection of furniture, letters, first editions, jewelery, portraits and the small table where she worked.

This collectors sheet is the first in a new Celebrating Britain series, Royal Mail said.

The Jane Austen collectors sheet can be ordered from Royal Mail’s website at www.royalmail.com/shop. Ordering information also is available from Royal Mail, Tallents House, 21 S. Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9PB, Scotland.

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