The stamps in detail
Of the six stamps the 1st class shows a portrait of the man himself while the others show Darwin's areas of study that helped to contribute to his ideas on evolution: Zoology, Ornithology, Geology, Botany and Anthropology through a mixture of present day photography and relevant archive material from Darwin's time.
Zoology (48p) is represented by a photograph of a Marine Iguana, just like the uniquely adapted reptiles observed on the Beagle Voyage; ornithology (50p)> by the Galapagos Finches that demonstrated variation through the shapes of their bills; geology (56p) by a Pacific atoll; botany (72p) by an illustration of a bee orchid; and anthropology (81p) by an orang-utan like the one Darwin studied in London Zoo. (
kind of looks like Phil )
For these stamps design group hat-trick incorporated a radical jigsaw design, featuring a cut out and 'peg' into each stamp, to demonstrate how the various areas of Darwin's studies interconnected with each other.
The miniature sheet features four ctamps showing some of the unique wildlife of the Galapagos Islands that Darwin encountered during his voyage as Ship's Naturalist on the hydrographic survey ship HMS Beagle. The animals of these isolated islands and how they showed evidence of variation and evolution had a profound influence upon Darwin's theory of natural selection. The animals are shown against the background of the map produced on the mission by Captain Robert Fitzroy.
Posted 02/23/2009 5:23 pm
