Stamp Engravers

Herbert K Bourne (1825-1907) was born in Staffordshire in 1825, into an artistic family. He soon showed artistic talents himself as well, as becomes clear from an early 1840s census which had him down as 'historical line engraver'. He had taken local art classes but later moved to London, where his engraving career soon took flight.

Bourne could profit from a revival of the art of engraving. While he was young, it became all the rage to own engraved copies of famous paintings and other art works. Biblical scenes were very popular as well. This insatiable demand by the public meant a golden age for art journals and copper engravers. Bourne certainly knew how to ride that wave.

His work was appreciated so much, that when in the late 1860s the French artist Gustave Doré took the art-loving public by storm, Bourne became one of a small circle of engravers who dedicated themselves to translating Doré's work into engravings. These became popular all over Europe, all the while en…

DATABASE: Sakae Yajima

STAMPS

1976
Japan, Ships

1977
Japan, National treasures

BIOGRAPHY: Lars Sjööblom

Lars Sjööblom was born in Lidköping, Sweden in 1956. He became interested in engraving when attending the Stockholm School for Advertising from 1977 to 1979, where a teacher introduced him to the graphic art form. The teacher soon noticed how talented Sjööblom was, and encouraged him to participate in the training course set up at the School of Engraving; a joint project from the Royal Swedish Post and the printing company Tumba Bruk. While there, from 1979 to 1981, Sjööblom was taught the art of engraving by the famous stamp engraver Arne Wallhorn. He obviously became a role model for Sjööblom, although the other classes during the course, focusing on art history, instilled a deep respect and admiration for classic graphic artists such as Dürer and Rembrandt. At the end of the course, Sjööblom, just as the other eleven students, was offered a position at the printing company.

In 1982, the Royal Swedish Post held a competition for that year’s Europa stamp. Sjööblom duly entered and wo…

BIOGRAPHY: Jindra Schmidt

Jindra Schmidt was born in Racice – now in the Czech Republic – on 24 July 1897. His father had a goldsmith’s shop there but both Jindra’s parents died when Jindra was only three years old. An uncle then raised him and his elder brother. From a very early age, Jindra was fascinated by painting and it was therefore no surprise he soon professed his intention to become a painter. But he did not get much encouragement from his uncle, who thought that being an artist was a rather risky and uncertain career path. It was better to learn a proper trade.

Fate, however, lend a helping hand in the shape of an aunt from Vienna who, out of the blue, descended onto the scene, listened to the wee boy’s desires, and decided he should become an apprentice at her son-in-law’s shop, where the young Jindra could learn to be a wood engraver. That way, he would learn a trade and be able to be artistic at the same time.

And so, Schmidt came to work in the Karel Kubelka workshop in Vinohrady, taking art cla…

ENGRAVING OF THE DAY

1913
The Netherlands
Centenary of Independence
King Willem I
Engraved by Johannes Josephus Aarts

BIOGRAPHY: Charles Mazelin

Charles Mazelin was born in Elboeuf, France, in 1882. At the age of 15 he went to the School of Decorative Arts in Paris, but was not the most diligent student. But his talent did show through, so he furthered it by going to the École des Beaux-arts in 1899. He subsequently won the Prix de Rome in 1906 and in 1908.
During the First World War, Mazelin was mobilised and wounded in Verdun, but while convalescing he created an album of patriotic etchings based on the Somme Front theme. After the war, Mazelin started working as a reproduction engraver, illustrating many books.
It was not until 1939 that Mazelin became involved in the engraving of stamps, thanks to a bit of coaxing by his friend and fellow engraver Jules Piel. Not that Mazelin needed a job, but he liked the technical challenge of engraving on such a small scale. His first stamp was one with a portrait of the poet Frédéric Mistral. But Mazelin was especially fond of the number of stamps he engraved showing landscape scenes,…

ENGRAVING OF THE WEEK

1861
New South Wales

Definitive

Queen Victoria coin
Gold on green colour proof

Engraved by Frederick Heath

BIOGRAPHY: Zulfiqar Ali

Zulfiqar Ali has one stamp issue attributed to him: the 1994 Pakistan definitive set with a portrait of Mohammed Ali Jennah, the founder of Pakistan. Not much else is known about him, except that in Gene Hessler's The International Engraver's Line, it is stated that he trained at the Pakistan Security Printing Works as early as 1968.

You will find Zulfiqar Ali's database HERE