RCB Library Notes
Commemorative Stamp for the Permanent Historical Record at the RCB Library
By Dr Susan Hood, Librarian & Archivist
For its Christmas Special Stamps in 2024, Royal Mail issued stamps featuring some of the cathedrals of the UK, including St Patrick’s Cathedral Armagh. An original illustration of the building by British artist, Judy Joel, featured as the Second Class Large Letter Class stamp. Four other cathedrals completed the set being: Edinburgh; Liverpool; Bangor; and Westminster. The Armagh image features light shining out through the Cathedral’s stained–glass windows, along with young people carol singing and playing in the snow, capturing a traditional winter scene. At the time of the issue, the Dean of Armagh, the Very Reverend Shane Forster, was presented with an original first day issue of the stamp, in the context of the full set, including a franked envelope addressed to him by Royal Mail. Further background to the original story can be found here:
Earlier this year, at an event in Armagh Robinson Library, Dean Forster in turn kindly presented the commemorative pieces to the RCB Library so that there might be a permanent record of the stamp in the Church’s archival repository in Dublin.
The Library gratefully accepted this generous gift and we have now framed the set of stamps, together with the franked envelope and presentation literature. Recently the chair of the RCB Library and Archive Committee, Mr Oswyn Paulin, was visiting with us, and he happily accepted it into the Library’s safe–keeping on behalf of the committee. The framed piece now has pride of place in the Library foyer, where visitors are most welcome to view it.
It sits alongside another significant first edition stamp. This is a framed copy of the first issue of the €1 ‘N’ rate stamp by An Post. The stamp was released in 2021 to mark the 150th anniversary of Disestablishment and features stained glass imagery from another cathedral, that of St Fin Barre, Cork, depicting the Sun, Moon and Stars. Further background about that story is available here.
Both stamps are available to view in the Library where visitors are always welcome.