Rannoch Moor ©2006 Scotiana

Rannoch Moor ©2006 Scotiana

In 2006, on Itinerary 5, we stopped our car on the side of the A82. We love this road which leads to Glencoe, the place where, in 2000, on Itinerary 1, we definitely fell in love with Scotland in front of one of the most striking and beautiful landscapes we ever saw. There were already a number of cars parked here.The weather was fine though wintry and cloudy and the point of view we discovered up a little hill which dominates the area, would have been worth a painting with its blue, green and brown colours.

Rannoch Moor © 2006 Scotiana

People seemed to be energized in the clear and fresh atmosphere of the place and everybody looked happy and cheerful, not to say euphoric. It’s one of our best travel memories. But beware of the appearances! The weather is very changing in Scotland and Rannoch Moor may suddenly offer a gloomier face to its visitors and even prove to be dangerous for unprepared walkers …

Robert Louis Stevenson - Kidnapped

Robert Louis Stevenson Kidnapped (1886) Catriona (1893) Polygon Birlinn Limited (2007)

Some seven hours’ incessant, hard travelling brought us early in the morning to the end of a range of mountains. In front of us there lay a piece of low, broken, desert land, which we must now cross. The sun was not long up, and shone straight in our eyes; a little, thin mist went up from the face of the moorland like a smoke; so that (as Alan said) there might have been twenty squadron of dragoons there and we none the wiser. (…) The mist rose and died away, and showed us that country lying as waste as the sea; only the moorfowl and the pewees crying upon it, and far over to the east, a herd of deer, moving like dots. Much of it was red with heather; much of the rest broken up with bogs and hags and peaty pools; some had been burnt black in a heath fire; and in another place there was quite a forest of dead firs, standing like skeletons. A wearier-looking desert man never saw; but at least it was clear of troops, which was our point. (…) We went down accordingly into the waste, and began to make our toilsome and devious travel towards the eastern verge. There were the tops of mountains all round (you are to remember) from whence we might be spied at any moment; (…) (Kidnapped Chapter XXII The Flight in the Heather: The Moor Robert Louis Stevenson 1886)

Loch Rannoch © 2007 Scotiana

Rannoch Moor covers an area of around 50 square miles (130 square kilometres) between Loch Rannoch, Glencoe and the Bridge of Orchy.

Rannoch Moor © 2006 Scotiana

Rannoch Moor signpost Rannoch Moor © 2006 Scotiana

Rannoch Moor Bridge of Orchy © 2006 Scotiana

Bridge of Orchy © 2006 Scotiana

At an altitude of about 300 metres, Rannoch Moor is covered with a “blanket bog” or “blanket mire”, the kind of vegetation forming on acidic soils in upland areas situated above 200 m  and submitted to heavy rainfall and low temperature. One must remember that the uplands of Scotland are covering almost two thirds of the country and that around 14 per cent of that land can be classified as blanket bog. The blanket bogs and lochans of Rannoch Moor drain into Loch Tummel, via Loch Rannoch. Thanks to its very specific fauna and flora,  quite typical of peatland areas,  the Moor has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest, SSSI. It has also been declared a National Nature Reserve, NNR. Rannoch Moor is also a proposed SAC, Special Area of Conservation and a part of it has been listed as Ramsar site of worldwide wetland importance. As a Natura 2000 SAC site it is of European importance.

Rannoch Moor © 2006 Scotiana

Vast and desolate, surrounded by mountains that rise to over 3000ft to the south-east and the west and to over 2000ft in the north, Rannoch Moor opens to you like a changing mosaic composed of lochs, lochans, streams and peat bogs. It is never the same, its atmosphere being as contrasted as the Scottish weather. Rannoch Moor can only be crossed on foot along more or less difficult walking paths or by train, following the lonely 16 kilometres of the West Highland Line rail track which crosses it.

Scotland's 100 best Walks Cameron McNeish Lomond Books 2005

I’ve crossed the Moor several times and have always been thrilled by its lonely emptiness. In 1792 The Revd John Lettice, later chaplain to the Duke of Hamilton, wrote of the Moor : ‘An immense vacuity, with nothing in it to contemplate, unless numberless mis-shapen blocks of stone rising hideously above the surface of the earth would be said to contradict the inanity of our prospects’. Lettice’s sentiments convey his enmity with such a landscape. I find it immensely appealing, an empty quarter where the spirit can soar in unfettered abandon. I find it moving and I find it humbling. (…) Can a moor share the same attributes as our highest mountains? The Moor of Rannoch can. (Cameron McNeish Scotland’s 100 Best Walks Lomond Books 1999)

Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë 1847 Random House Publishers 1945 edition Illustrated with wood engravings by Fritz Eichenberg

Given the very specific atmosphere associated with moorland, no wonder it has inspired so many writers. I have just given an extract of Stevenson’s Kidnapped, which takes place in Rannoch Moor. But who could have forgotten the Yorkshire Moors which serve as a background in Emily Brontë’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights or, along the same lines, the lonely and gloomy setting given by Conan Doyle to The Hound of the Baskervilles which happens to be situated in Dartmoor, one of the most desolate places to be found in Britain.

Conan Doyle The Hound of the Baskervilles Campfire (February 1, 2010)

Even though Conan Doyle did give an English background to one of his most famous stories he would certainly not have forgotten his Scottish roots…

By the way, and to end this post on a note of humour, did you know that Uncle Scrooge, one of the most famous characters of the American cartoon, had Scottish origins? Yes he has ! He is a member of the Clan McDuck and Castle McDuck, his ancestral home, happens to be situated in Dismal Downs, somewhere on Rannoch Moor.

Uncle Scrooge McDuck Rannoch Moor Scottish Castle Walt Disney Uncle Scrooge illustration 285 1994

Bonne lecture ! A bientôt ! Mairiuna

Translation: ” In the Gleendark castle, Herlock Sholmès and his loyal Ratson are tracking the SIMCA 1000. Find it before them and go see it at a SIMCA car dealership.”

It took us a while before locating the SIMCA car in the picture. Can you see it now ?

I was most intrigued by the ad and wondered why, by all means, Sherlock Holmes name was spelled as “Herlock Sholmès” and Dr Watson’s , as Ratson ?!?

To satisfy my curiosity, I googled about it to find out that it originated upon a copyright issue!

It all began in 1906 when Maurice Leblanc (1864-1941) creator of the fictional character Arsene Lupin, gentleman-burglar, wrote a short story titled “Sherlock Holmes arrives too late“ in the Je Sais Tout series, No. 17.  Quite a literary pastiche!

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle manifested his opposition of using the name of his internationally known and most popular fictional detective.

So, to bypass this copyright issue, Maurice Leblanc came up with a spelling tweak which consisted in moving the  ”S” from Sherlock to the beginning of  the last name; Herlock Sholmes was born.

Read all about The Case of Sherlock Holmes and Arsène Lupin written by David Drake of Université Paris VIII,  for a more detailed coverage.

The first book from Leblanc featuring both detective was “The Hollow Needle” , but we find a much more involved Sholmès in the follow-up story that bears several titles:

-The Blonde Phantom

-The Blonde Lady

- The Case of the Golden Blonde

( Translated in 1910 to English by Alexander Teixera de Mattos)

Arsene Lupin Vs. Herlock Sholmes, by Maurice LeBlanc

LeBlanc’s creation, gentleman thief Arsene Lupin, is everything you would expect from a French aristocrat — witty, charming, brilliant, sly . . . and possibly the greatest thief in the world.

In this classic tale, Lupin comes up against the only man who may be able to stop him . . . no less than the great British gentleman-detective Herlock Sholmes! Who will emerge triumphant?

Arsene Lupin Kontra Herlock Sholmes Video=================>      

“The strange human craving for the pleasure of feeling afraid….”

(Virginia Woolf – The Common Reader)

In The Book Shop (Wigtown, Scotland)

We’re not of the kind to discriminate against anybody, so let us  share our readings with this old guy relaxing in his armchair, or… is it a “she” ? This venerable person must have a lot of thrilling stories to tell us …

The Book Shop (Wigtown,Scotland)

Indeed, there seems to be a good  number of books devoted to  tales of the supernatural  in Wigtown’s bookshops… but we’re in Scotland !

Perhaps it has something to do with our landscape: seen in the right light (or should that be the wrong light?!) at the right time of year, Scotland’s deep dark lochs, rain-lashed moors and chill Glens covered by slow-moving mists can certainly seem eerie enough. Indeed Scotland’s geography has been providing writers with spooky inspiration for some time now. . .

http://www.scotland.org/about/innovation-and-creativity/features/culture/halloween.html

Typewriter near inglenook in The Book Shop (Wigtown,Scotland)

It would not come as a surprise if we were to hear the sound of this old typewriter in the middle of the night …

By the way, Janice,  since we happen to be in so good a company, let us try to discover more about ghost stories !

J’adore les histoires de fantômes !

M.R. James-Collected Ghost Stories-Introduced by Penelope Fitzgerald and Illustrated by Francis Mosley-The Folio Society-London-2007

On my bookshelves, there are some books of ghost stories that would give great delight to the  ‘amateurs du genre’, just have a look at the covers ! Most of them are anthologies of tales written by  eminent ghost stories writers coming from Great Britain and Ireland.  The Victorian era seems to have been a very prolific time for that kind of literature.  Newspapers and magazines used to publish ghost stories regularly then,  especially at Christmas time.

Christmas Ghost Stories-Illustrated by Peter Suart-The Folio Society-London-2005

Among the most famous ghost stories writers, let us mention first M.R. James who used to tell his thrilling tales to his students in a very stylish manner, the meetings taking place in the old panelled rooms of the University of Cambridge, on Sunday evenings, in the winter terms.

There are also J. Sheridan Le Fanu, from Dublin,  who became a master in  mystery and horror fiction, Algernon Blackwood, Ambrose Bierce, Wilkie Collins, Amelia Edwards…,but there are many others and among them, Scottish authors like Margaret Oliphant whose best known book  is entitled A Beleaguered City and Other Tales of the Seen and the Unseen. Her stories include The Open Door and The Library Window.

Ghost Stories-Selected, Introduced and Illustrated by Charles W. Stewart-The Folio Society-London-1997

Nowhere but in Scotland will the writer of ghost stories  find such appropriate settings for his spooky tales : moors, lochs and mountains, ruined castles and abbeys, unique landscapes  and dramatic effects  in an ever changing light. It’s all a question of atmosphere !

Hauntings - Tales Of The Supernatural. Edited by Henry Mazzeo. Drawings by Edward Gorey.

Some writers of ghost stories do specialize in the genre but most of them only write a few stories in the course of their literary career. Many great authors have thus tried their hand at ghost stories and with great success, like Charles Dickens ( A Christmas Carol), Walter Scott ( Wandering Willie’s Tale ; The Tapestried Chamber ; My Aunt Margaret’s Mirror) Stevenson (The Body Snatcher ; Thrawn Janet) and of course, Conan Doyle though not in his Sherlock Holmes stories (Lot No. 249).

I hate to disappoint you : this is not a story about Sherlock Holmes. In his entire career, Holmes never encountered a genuine spook, and that’s the only kind allowed in this book. In fact, he went so far as to express complete skepticism in The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire : “Rubbish, Watson, rubbish ! What have we to do with walking corpes who can only be held in their graves by stakes driven through their hearts? It’s pure lunacy… This agency stands flat-footed upon the ground, and there it must remain. No ghosts need apply.” But, if you’ve read The Sussex Vampire, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot, The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane, and many more, you know very well that the adventures of Sherlock Holmes are macabre enough to satisfy the most Halloweenish appetites. Holmes himself possesses the brooding intensity and dramatic flair of a Gothic villain, as befits a descendant of Edgar Allan Poe’s detective, C. Auguste Dupin.

Henry Mazzeo  (Hauntings – Tales of The Supernatural - “Lot No. 249″)

I would like to make special mention here of George Mackay Brown, the great Orkney bard, not only because he is my favourite Scottish writer but also because he has produced little gems in the ghost stories genre : Andrina, Beliah, Sara, The Drowned Rose, The Interrogator, Mr Scarecrow. But we’ll say more about Scottish ghost stories and ghost stories writers in the additional pages we intend to create in Scotiana.

In the meantime, here are some very interesting books I can recommend to our readers. As I do like to anticipate my readings by going through the contents of my books I’ve thought it could be a good idea to give our readers a list of the stories they are going to find in the following books.

Bonne lecture et à bientôt !

Giles Gordon (ed) – Scottish Ghost Stories (Senate, 1996: Lomond, 2000: originally published as Prevailing Spirits: A Book of Scottish Ghost Stories (Hamish Hamilton, 1976: Panther, 1977: Grafton, 1986.)

Forbes Bramble : Holiday

George Mackay Brown : Beliah

Elspeth Davie : The Foothold

James Allan Ford : A Kind of Possession

Antonia Fraser : Who’s Been Sitting in my Car ?

Clifford Hanley : The Haunted Chimley

Dorothy K. Haynes : The Curator

Angus Wolf Murray : The Curse of Mathair Nan Uisgeachan

Robert Nye : Randal

Iain Crichton Smith : The Brothers

Fred Urquhart : Proud Lady in a Cage

Gordon Williams : The Horseshoe Inn.

Supernatural Tales-Edited and Introduced by Rev. James C.G. Greig--B & W Publishing-1997

The Watcher by the Threshold

The Kings of Orion

Tendebant Manus

No-Man-Land

Fountainblue

The Far Islands

The Outgoing of the Tide

The Wind in the Portico

The Grove of Ashtaroth

The Lemnian

The Green Glen

The Herd of Standlan

Space

The Rime of True Thomas

A Lucid Interval

The Penguin Book Of Ghost Stories-Edited by J.A.Cuddon-1984

The Beggarwoman of Locarno – Heinrich von Kleist

The Entail E.T.A. Hoffmann

Wandering Willie’s Tale  – Walter Scott

The Queen of Spades – Alexander Pushkin

The Old Nurse’s Story – Elisabeth Gaskell

The Open Door – Margaret Oliphant

Mr Justice Harbottle – Sheridan Le Fanu

Le Horla – Guy de Maupassant

Sir Edmund Orme – Henry James

Angeline, or the Haunted House – Emile Zola

The Moonlit Road – Ambrose Bierce

A Haunted Island – Algernon Blackwood

The Rose Garden – M. R. James

The Return of Imray – Rudyard Kipling

My Adventure in Norfolk – A. J. Alan

The Inexperienced Ghost – H. G. Wells

The Room in the Tower – E. F. Benson

One Who Saw – A. M. Burrage

Afterward – Edith Wharton

The Wardrobe – Thomas Mann

The Buick Saloon – Ann Bridge

The Tower – Marghanita Laski

Footsteps in the Snow – Mario Soldati

The Wind – Ray Bradbury

Exorcizing Baldassare – Edward Hyans

The Leaf-Sweeper – Muriel Spark

“Dear Ghost…” – Fielden Hughes

Sonata for Harp and Bicycle – Joan Aiken

Come and Get Me – Elizabeth Walter

Andrina – George Mackay Brown

The Axe – Penelope Fitzgerald

The Game of Dice – Alain Danielou

The July Ghost – A. S. Byatt

The Lost World - A.C. Doyle

Hi everybody ! Do you remember how an old dying sycamore growing in Conan Doyle’s childhood garden, on the playground of what is now known as Dunedin School, in Edinburgh, had been given a second life ?

What a good idea to have a violin, called “Sherlock”, carved in the wood of the tree and to have it play on 22 may 2009, the very day of Conan Doyle’s 150 th birth anniversary ? So ingenious are our Scottish friends !

The Lost World & Other Stories - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

But this year, in Great Britain, another kind of homage is being paid to Conan Doyle as The Lost World (1912), one of his most popular novels, has been chosen for the 2009 great reading campaign.

Not a detective story this time but an adventure novel, more or less evoking Jules Verne’s A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864) .

The novel is centered round the irascible and very colourful Professor George Edward Challenger who leads an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon basin of South America, where prehistoric animals are supposed to have survived.

The character of Professor Challenger reappears in other Conan Doyle’s stories : The Land of Mist (1926), The Poisoned Belt (1913), When the World Screamed (1928) The Disintegration Machine (1929).

The Lost World - Film - 1925

The Lost World has been turned into a film several times and has inspired contemporary authors and film directors as well. Let us think to  the American author Michael Crichton whose book Jurassic Park was adapted in 1993 by Steven Spielberg.

But let us focus on what happens in Edinburgh, not only because it’s Conan Doyle’s native town but also because Edinburgh is called “the city of books”.

In 2004, Edinburgh won the title of the “1st UNESCO City of Literature” and since then it has launched three great reading campaigns in the city, under the motto of “One Book One Edinburgh”.

The Lost World - Film - 1960

The three books successively chosen to be freely distributed everywhere in the town were Kidnapped, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and The Lost World”.

At least 35 000 copies of Conan Doyle’s book have been distributed in schools, libraries, bookshops and other public places, while many literary events had been  scheduled to take place all over the year. I’m looking forward to the next reading campaign  book choice !

By the way Janice, do you happen to have  some stamps commemorating The Lost World?

A bientôt…

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 - 7 July 1930)

Conan Doyle died of a heart attack on 7 July 1930. He was aged 71 and lived then at “Windlesham”, his house situated in East Sussex, England. He was buried in the churchyard at Minstead in the New Forest, Hampshire. The epitaph on his grave reads “Steel True – Blade Straight – Arthur Conan Doyle – Knight – Patriot, Physician & Man of letters”.

If you question people about Conan Doyle’s nationality many will probably answer : ‘English’. But let’s try to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s. If Conan Doyle did spend most of his life, died and was buried in England, he was born, spent his childhood and studied medicine in Edinburgh. That is why, on 22 may 2009, the day of his one hundred and fiftieth birth anniversary, he was paid a very moving tribute in Edinburgh, his native town.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's grave, Minstead Churchyard

To begin with, let us go back a few years ago. Of the three houses where Conan Doyle had lived during his childhood, in Edinburgh, only one had not yet been demolished. But Liberton Bank House, a late 18th century sandstone cottage located between Liberton Road and Cameron Toll Shopping Centre, 2 miles southeast of the city centre, was being threatened in its turn by the very polemical project of a Mac Donald fast food restaurant planned to be built there.

Fortunately it’s another one that was finally adopted, of the kind that would certainly not have displeased Conan Doyle who had lived there from the age of 5 to 9 ! It was a school that was to be established there !

In 2007, in a completely refurbished and extended building, Dunedin School opened its doors to a score of children with learning difficulties. But the story does not end here. In the garden of the new school there lived a very old sycamore aged 170 years in the branches of which Conan Doyle had played when a young boy.

Alas, it soon proved that the old tree was dying and that, to everyone’s dismay, it had to be cut. Dunedin school staff soon found a very interesting solution. Why not use the wood of the tree to create something in memoriam of Conan Doyle ? It could be one of those emblematic belongings of Sherlock Holmes, the most famous character created by Conan Doyle .

Finally it was decided that it would be a violin and that the work would be done by a well-known luthier of Edinburgh, Steve Burnett. The violin was finally made right on time and did make its debut on Friday 22 May 2009 at Dunedin school where the instrument would later serve to teach music to the children. The violin had been christened “Sherlock” and inside you can read the following words: “Sherlock, 150th anniversary, birth of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, wood from sycamore at Dunedin School, former chilhood home, Edinburgh, 22.05.2009″ Steve Burnett is going to carve four other instruments (two violins, one viola and one cello) for a group which will be called the Conan Doyle Quartet.

Sherlock Holmes - Illustration by Sidney Paget

So you see, author and character will be forever associated exactly where young Conan Doyle had played in the branches of the old sycamore. In my next post I will tell you about another great tribute paid to Conan Doyle in the city of books… but in the meantime I think Janice is intending to introduce another Scottish author whose detective could well prove to be to Edinburgh what Sherlock Holmes has been to London…

A bientôt!

Mairiuna

PS: Looking for Sherlock Holmes Posters ? Check out Candlesbook.com

Sherlock Holmes Statue - Picardy Place - Edinburgh

Quite touching the idea of portraying Sherlock Holmes brooding over the death of his author… all the more since we know how,  at one time, Conan Doyle got so tired of his character that he decided to ‘kill’ him. “I must save my mind for better things,” he wrote to his mother.

In The Final Problem, published in 1893, Conan Doyle did try to get rid of his hero by making him disappear in the abyss of the Reichenbach Falls, in Switzerland, during a last and fatal combat with Moriarty, the detective’s sworn enemy. Sherlock Holme’s fans were left as disconsolate as Watson at the news of his tragic end and such was the wave of discontent among Conan Doyle’s readers that the writer  had to bring his detective back to life. Not only did he manage this “tour de force” to resuscitate the detective without losing credibility but he also embarked him on some of his most thrilling adventures.

The Final Problem - Sherlock Holmes

Conan Doyle died nearly eighty years ago but the world-wide known  figure of Sherlock Holmes has survived him in our imaginary. However, author and character are going to be united forever in one of the greatest and most touching homages ever paid to a writer. It will be a Scottish tribute paid to a Scottish author.

But who  knows that Conan Doyle is a Scottish writer? The author died in England on July 7th 1930 and was buried in a small churchyard in Hampshire after spending some part of his life there.

I will tell you more next time  and I’m sure nobody will ever forget that Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh and that he is a Scottish writer and not an English one!

That’s why I will give you the solution right now!

The letter D is found on The Hound of the Baskervilles stamp, at the bottom center.

The letter O, on The Final Problem stamp. It’s the cuff-link

The letter Y, on The Greek Interpreter one, under his knee.

The letter L, on The Six Napoleons stamp. On the table, there’s a book. It’s on the cover.

The letter E, on The Reigate Squire, near Watson’s right shoulder. Examine the spine of the cover.

The above pictures were taken on a superb site devoted to detective fiction on stamps. And you know what? Sherlock Holmes has a complete page of it’s own! A must see for all sherlockians.

Here’s the link : http://www.trussel.com/detfic/sholmes.htm

What a superb topical stamp collection !

In fact Mairiuna, it was Prince Alfred, the second son of Queen Victoria ( later King George V ) that started the Royal Philatelic Collection.

His enthusiasm about stamp collecting was shared with his brother, the Prince of Wales ( later King Edward VII) who bought Prince Alfred’s collection just a few years before he died. In turn, he offered same to his son, the Duke of York, who had spent many hours with his uncle enjoying the hobby.

And from one generation to another, the Royal Philatelic Collection is now in the hands of Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth.

By the way, did you know that Great Britain is the only country that does not print it’s name on postage stamps ?

Look carefully…the only way to identify a British stamp, is to find the Queen’s profile adorning one of the corners.

Great Britain Stamps - Folk & Fairy Tales

As you share the same thematic approach to stamp collecting as I do, we both happily undertook a philatelic quest to find as many postage stamps and other philatelic document that relates to Scotland in any shape or form, and I have to tell you Mairiuna..I find  it’s a very thrilling adventure !

Let’s turn another page of our “Scotiana on Stamps” album to view more stamps about Scottish philately.

The Cairngorms… home to five of the six highest  mountains  in Scotland,  all munros .

Quiz Time !  Can you name them ?

Who volunteers to take a guess?

Click on  “Leave a Comment” down below the post and submit   your answers. We will unveil correct answer on the blog.

.

This one from Monaco commemorates Sir Athur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, famous fictional detective, who appears in four novels and fifty-six short stories all together.

Arthur Conan Doyle - 2009 - Sherlock Holmes

Mairiuna, since we are in Edinburgh, would you like to walk down the avenue towards Picardy Place where the statue of Sherlock Holmes was erected close to the house where he was born?

Talk soon,

Janice

The Nightflight

This is right up my alley Mairiuna ! Thanks for the invite.

For the benefit of our readers, I can say that I’m really passionate about topical stamp collecting and have marveled in this rewarding hobby of philately since I was 12 years old.

And as of today, I still delight in collecting those miniature pieces of art called postage stamps.

Indeed, there are some stamps that depict Scottish fairy tales. I recall in particular, Great Britain’s beautiful stamp issue commemorating the father of Peter Pan.

Let me look into our stamp albums. Hum….just got an idea. We could title these albums “Scotiana on Stamps”. It would marry well with the title of our blog. Let me know your thoughts on that Mairiuna, when you have a minute.

Now, let’s see. What do we have in here relating to Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Scottish Fairy Tales and J.M. Barrie?

Well, well, well, can you see the smile on my face my friend ?   Look at this !

Sir J.M. Barrie - Peter Pan - FDC - National Trust

The  August 20th, 2002 Great Britain complete issue of five stamps to commemorate Sir James Matthew Barrie.

The National Trust of Scotland took up this opportunity to privately produce first day covers cancelled with the portrait of J.M.Barrie and postmarked by Kirriemuir Post Office, Barrie’s hometown.

Did you notice the signature on the First Day Cover ? I wonder from whom it is… let’s call up Sherlock Holmes to the rescue !

Redonda - Sherlock Holmes

He will surely investigate this affair with the help of all Peter Pan’s friends as depicted on this nice Disney Classic Fairy Tales sheet of stamps issued by Grenada.

Walt Disney Classic Fairytales in Postage Stamps - Peter Pan

As I turn the pages of this stamp album filled with Scottishness, I realize that we could write many more posts in the upcoming weeks and months to illustrate the beauty of these philatelic jewels.

But for today, let’s conclude with a souvenir sheet issued by the Maldives Island to commemorate Nessie, the Loch Ness monster.

Mysteries Of The Universe - Nessie, Loch Ness