Milestone Issues

1935 First Stamps about Fairy Tales

As long as I know Denmark was the first country in the World to issue stamps about fairy tales and their author: six stamps about Hans Christian Andersen are issued of which four feature his portrait while the other two show the Little Mermaid and the Ugly Duckling.

1945 First Stamps about a Children's Book

Ten years later New Zealand issues what are most likely the first two stamps about a children's book: two stamps show a statue of Peter Pan.

1958 German stamps show Wilhelm Busch
Germany's first two stamps about childhood heroes show Wilhelm Busch and his most famous creation, Max and Moritz. To this date his stories appeared on many more German stamps.

1959 Beginning of Germany's first Fairy Tale Welfare Series
The first Welfare stamps in Germany were in 1949. The stamps issued between 1959 and 1967 all featured fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, who were also shown on one of the stamps from the first issue. For most of the fairy tales these were the first features on stamps. Since 2014 and probably until 2023 fairy tales are again shown on the German Welfare stamps.

1979 Year of the Child
For the Year of the Child some countries issued stamps, but the most interesting is definitely the set from the United Kingdom, a true highlight of any children's book collection. This issue also marked the first appearence on stamps for Peter Rabbit, the Wind in the Willows, Winnie-the-Pooh and Alice in Wonderland. Until today the United Kingdom often featured its rich children's book tradition on stamps.

1984 The first Smurf on a Stamp
Personally I really like Smurfs, so this one is quite interesting for me, but it is also one of the first stamps showing an European comic. Tintin, which I believe to be the first, only appeared five years earlier.

2004 Finland issues a flocked Moomin stamp
Extraordinary stamps are today issued quite often, but extraordinary stamps about childhood heroes there are not so many. Apart from this one the most extraordinary are probably the Men of Steel stamps from Jersey and the mirror stamp from Andorra.

2005 Andersen Anniversary
Many countries issued stamps about the 200th birthday of Hans Christian Andersen, which makes 2005 one of the most productive years for childhood hero stamps.

2006 The United Kingdom and the USA feature Animals in Children's Books
This is another highlight in any children's book collection. Like extraordinary stamps joint issues are nothing rare, but in combination with a childhood hero theme there are not many. Others include joint issues by Belgium and the Democratic Republic of Congo for Tintin, Belgium and France for Blake and Mortimer, Denmark and Malta for Hans Christian Andersen and Germany and Sweden for Astrid Lindgren.

2010 Children's Books are the theme of the EUROPA stamps
Like the Andersen Anniversary in 2005 this leads to many stamps for the collection.

2012 Bicentenary of the Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
Might sound interesting, but apart from Germany only Macedonia issues a stamp for the jubilee. This however is a personal milestone as it sparked my interest in the theme.

2019 Asterix appears on stamps and coin
Asterix turns 60 years old and France celebrates the anniversary both with stamps (sheet and booklet) and a 2€ coin. It really does not happen very often that a children's character appears on a coin (the first on a 2€ coin I think). Unfortunately no official coin covers are produced.