Royal Mail Classic Science Fiction celebration stamps released next week

By John Freeman on April 10, 2021

Out on Thursday 15th April 2021 is a new Royal Mail stamp set, Classic Science Fiction, offering new illustrations of classic British SF novels – special stamps celebrating visionary British authors and their seminal stories, including Shikasta by Doris Lessing and The Time Machine by HG Wells.

The stamps have been designed by London-based Webb & Webb Design Limited, run by Brian and James Webb, and coincide with the 75th anniversary of the death of HG Wells and the 70th anniversary of the publication of John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids.

Art for the set comes from passionate movie-goer and comic collector Mick Brownfield, who told fellow artist Brian Bolland on his Facebook page that the process of getting the final design to an envelope involved going through a lot of hoops, starting work on his design back in November 2019!

Also creating designs were French artist Thomas Danthony, and Brighton-based illustrator Sarah Jones, who told her Instagram followers she was pleased to have had the chance to celebrate such an amazing woman writer.

Dorset-based artist Matt Murphy, London-based Chilean artist Francisco Rodríguez and Slovenia-based painter and costume, set and puppet designer Sabina Šinko , well known for her “Beautiful and Ugly” series of works researching beauty as a phenomenon in aesthetics and sociology in our culture, a great choice for her Frankenstein design, are the other illustrators featured.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley – Illustration by Sabina Šinko

The Time Machine by HG Wells – Illustration by Francisco Rodríguez

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley – Illustration by Thomas Danthony

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham – Illustration by Mick Brownfield

Childhood’s End by Arthur C Clarke – Illustration by Matt Murphy

Shikasta by Doris Lessing – Illustration by Sarah Jones

• The Royal Mail Classic Science Fiction Special Stamp Set is available here from the Royal Mail web shop

About the Author
Latest Posts

John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.