Royal Mail celebrates British cathedrals on Nov. 5 Christmas issue

By David Hartwig

Five stamps in a Nov. 5 issue by Great Britain’s Royal Mail celebrate Christmas with designs showing British cathedrals.

“Iconic cathedrals from Westminster to Edinburgh are brought to life on the stamps, with charming scenes capturing the essence of the festive season,” Royal Mail said.

The Christmas set includes four nondenominated stamps: second class for standard mail (currently 85 pence), second class for large mail (£1.55), first class for standard mail (£1.65), and first class for large mail (£2.60). The other stamp in the set is denominated £2.80 (the international standard rate).

Royal Mail defines standard-size mail as letters not exceeding 24 centimeters in length, 16.5cm in width and 0.5cm in thickness. Large letters can be up to 35.3cm in length, 25cm in width and 2.5cm thick. There is a 100-gram weight limit for letters sent with any of the five stamps.

The stamps feature illustrations by Judy Joel, an artist who paints in the naive style, which is a style characterized by the lack of formal education and training in the artist.

The Association of British Naive Artists said: “Naive painting has a simplistic charm and humorous vitality that its sophisticated and traditional contemporaries fail to achieve, and it is created all over the world, by ordinary men and women from all walks of life, who have had no formal training.”

Joel’s style is further characterized by the incorporation of Joel’s mother with a dog in all of her paintings, according to her biography on the website of the Association of British Naive Artists.

Each of the five stamps pictures a cathedral from a different city. The second-class stamp for standard mail shows St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh, the second-class stamp for large mail shows the Church of Ireland St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh, the first-class stamp for standard mail shows the Liverpool Cathedral, the first-class stamp for large mail shows St. Deiniol’s Cathedral in Wales, and the £2.80 stamp shows the Westminster Cathedral in London.

A souvenir sheet included with the Nov. 5 issue contains all five stamps in the set. The souvenir sheet’s background, also illustrated by Joel, shows a wintertime cathedral.

Royal Mail also offers a presentation pack with all five stamps in the set along with text and artwork exploring the history of Britain’s cathedrals.

Cartor Security Printers printed the stamps and the souvenir sheet, both self-adhesive, by gravure. Together Design London Ltd. designed the stamps and souvenir sheet using Joel’s illustrations.

The stamps measure 39 millimeters by 30mm and are perforated gauge 15 by 14.5. Each of the five stamps were printed in sheets of 50 (two panes of 25). The first-class and second-class stamps for standard-size mail were also issued in separate booklets of eight.

Royal Mail offers two first-day covers with the issue. One is franked with the set of five stamps, and the other is franked with the souvenir sheet. An available Tallents House postmark is designed in the style of a stained glass window. An alternative postmark from Bethlehem, Wales, shows an illustration of a candlelit wreath.

Other products offered with this Christmas set include a set of six postcards reproducing the designs of the stamps and the souvenir sheet, and a pane of 20 stamps that Royal Mail calls a collectors sheet.

The collectors sheet includes eight first-class stamps, eight second-class stamps, one first-class stamp for large mail, one second-class stamp for large mail and two £2.80 stamps. Attached labels feature images of a festive nighttime scene.

The stamps and related materials can be ordered from Royal Mail’s website. In addition to the website, ordering information is available from Royal Mail, Tallents House, 21 S. Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9PB, Scotland.

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