The use of adhesive stamps in France began shortly after the revolution of 1848, which gave rise to the Second Republic and the election of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte as its president (Napoléon III, as he would become known, became emperor of France in 1852). The first stamps released by the republic depicted the Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres, with a cluster of grapes in her hair. Subsequent stamps showed off Napoléon III, at least until he was overthrown in 1870. In the years that followed, French stamps routinely celebrated the arts. One stamp printed in 1925 trumpeted the International Exposition of Decorative Arts, a show in Paris that gave rise to the phrase Art Deco. Then there was the 1939 set, designed to raise money for a fund devoted to the welfare of unemployed intellectuals.
Interviews & Articles
In Postal History, Every Stamp Tells a Story

I have a stamp collection, but I don’t consider myself a collector. I have a collection of my initials on stamps from Great Britai… [more]
Best of the Web (“Hall of Fame”)
Alphabetilately

First shown in 2008 to celebrate the Smithsonian National Postal Museum's 15th anniversary, Alphabetilately is esse… [read review or visit site]
The Killer Mobile Device for Victorian Women
If These Shirts Could Talk: The Tantalizing Tales Behind Used Clothes
Gloriously Grotesque 19th-Century Pipes
In the Hot Seat: Is Your Antique Windsor a Fake?
Bizarro Beauty Products, from 1889 to Now
Love at First Kite: How Pizza and Pente Led to One Oklahoman's High-Flying Obsession
Pin-Up Queens: Three Female Artists Who Shaped the American Dream Girl
Say Ahhh: An Oral Surgeon's Quest to Reimagine the Garage-Band Guitar
Tokens for Sweethearts, in Times of War
American Picker Dream, Part I: Mike Wolfe On His Love Affair With Bikes

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