Stamps & Stories: 50 Stories of Namibia's Postage Stamps Vol 1, by Alfred Schleicher et al.

This is an excerpt from Stamps & Stories: 50 Stories of Namibia's Postage Stamps Vol 1, by Alfred Schleicher et al. Gondwana Collection Namibia. Windhoek, Namibia 2012. ISBN 9789991688800 / ISBN 978-99916-888-0-0

Stamps & Stories: 50 Stories of Namibia's Postage Stamps Vol 1, by Alfred Schleicher et al. is another title in a series of books that introduces to the postal history of Namibia.

Alfred Schleicher  Sven-Eric Kanzler  Mannfred Goldbeck  Antje Otto  

Namibia's postage stamps are without doubt among the most beautiful in the world. They have won various prizes in international competitions. What is more, the stamps portray the country in its many fascinating facets: plant and animal life, attractions and population groups, public figures, achievements and history. "Every significant event in Namibia, before and after independence, has been commemorated with a stamp," says Festus Hangula, the managing director of Namibia Post Limited. "The fascinating stories of the country's natural environment and history can hardly be told in a more vivid manner than this," adds Mannfred Goldbeck, the managing director of the Gondwana Collection Namibia group of lodges. Against this background it was obvious that the stories behind the postage stamps should be told and a partnership between NamPost and Gondwana seemed like the way forward to this purpose. There are similarities between the two companies: both of them bring people together, they promote Namibia throughout the world and both advance the country's development. And so the weekly "Stamps & Stories" series was launched in four Namibian newspapers in September 2011. Every week a brief, entertaining and exploratory story relating to the picture on a particular stamp would be published. From the readers' response it soon became clear that these stories were being very well received. Some readers began cutting out the weekly instalments for safekeeping. There were also many requests from readers for copies of a story which they had missed for some reason or another. This triggered the idea of publishing a collection of the stories in book form. While the weekly instalments would en-nampost* sure that Namibia's beautiful stamps did not remain hidden in the albums of a few collectors but were made available to the public at large, a book of the collection annotated with fascinating stories about the natural environment, culture and history would safeguard them for future generations. With the book "Stamps & Stories" NamPost and Gondwana therefore make a valuable contribution to the preservation of Namibia's natural and historical heritage. This is the first volume containing the first 50 stories. Further volumes are to follow. For NamPost, this book combines their past, present and future. The first two stories are a memorial to the postal runners, the pioneers of 19th century postal services in Namibia. This volume also marks the 20-year jubilee of postal services in Namibia since independence, and the enthusiastic response of readers at home and abroad shows that the appeal of letters and postcards remains undiminished in the age of email. Finally, thank you to everyone who has contributed to Stamps & Stories: 50 Stories of Namibia's Postage Stamps Vol 1: Mannfred Goldbeck for the idea behind the project, his stamp collection and research; Sven-Eric Kanzler who was project manager and author; Iris le Roux who scanned the stamps and Inke Stoldt who prepared the book for print. Thanks are also due to authors Antje Otto, Ron Swilling, Alfred Schleicher and Chris Brown for many of these stories. Sincere thanks go to Gunter von Schumann, who always supported us with advice and information on the stamps and their stories, as well as Trudi Stols, Konrad Schullenbach, Walter Rusch and Kuno Budack. We are also grateful for the assistance of the National Archives and the National Museum, the library of the Namibia Scientific Society in Windhoek and the Sam Cohen Library in Swakopmund. Last but not least, a big thank you to the Namibian dailies Allgemeine Zeitung, Namibian Sun, New Era and Republikein for publishing "Stamps & Stories" as a weekly column. All of them have helped in letting the stamps tell their stories. We hope that you, dear reader, will savour them with pleasure!

This is an excerpt from Stamps & Stories: 50 Stories of Namibia's Postage Stamps Vol 1, by Alfred Schleicher et al.

Title: Stamps & Stories: 50 Stories of Namibia's Postage Stamps Vol 1
Authors: Sven-Erik Kanzler; Iris le Roux; Inke Stoldt; Antje Otto; Chris Brown; Ron Swilling; Alfred Schleicher
Publisher: Gondwana Collection Namibia
Windhoek, Namibia 2012
ISBN 9789991688800 / ISBN 978-99916-888-0-0
Original softcover, 15 x 21 cm, 192 pages, throughout colour images, 1 map