Happy Liechtensteiner Staatsfeiertag Day! August 15 will be a day filled with fireworks, festivals, and bonfires celebrating Liechtenstein's National Day. National Day Procession and Fireworks at Vaduz Castle Liechtensteiner Staatsfeiertag From Liechtenstein's 1981 EUROPA Festivals set Designed by Regina Marxer On August 5, 1940, the government of the Principality of Liechtenstein declared August 15 as […]
The Klondike Gold Rush is set into motion August 16, 1896 with the discovery of gold in Canada's Yukon territory. When out of the night, which was fifty below, and into the din and the glare, There stumbled a miner fresh from the creeks, dog-dirty, and loaded for bear. He looked like a man with […]
Frederick the Great, King of Prussia died August 17, 1786. Frederick the Great (1712-1786) Issued in 1933 to coincide with the opening session of the new Reichstag in Potsdam Frederick II (born January 24, 1712, Berlin, Prussia —died August 17, 1786, Potsdam, near Berlin) was the king of Prussia (1740–86), a brilliant military campaigner who, […]
French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac died August 18, 1850 in Paris, France. Honoré de Balzac - For the Unemployed Intellectuals This semi-postal stamp was part of a series started in the 1935 to support unemployed writers, artists and intellectuals. A portion of the money raised from these stamps went towards the relief program […]
On August 19, 1915 the father of modern Turkish poetry, Tevfik Fikret died in Istanbul. In attempting to define a new literature, Tevfik Fikret and his contemporaries often wrote in an obscure style and in language containing many Arabic and Persian words not easily accessible to the average reader. Greatly influenced by the French Symbolist poets, he sought […]
Nobel Prize poet Salvatore Quasimodo was born August 20, 1901 in Modica, Sicily. ...the birth of a poet is always a threat to the existing cultural order Salvatore 1959 Salvatore Quasimodo Issued by Italy in 2001 Designed by A.M. Maresca The poet is alone with infinite objects in his own obscure sphere and does not […]
Vienna opened Stadtpark, Austria's first public park, August 21, 1862. Designed by Vienna's first city gardener, Rudolph Siebeck, in 1861 using original plans by Joseph Selleny Stadtpark Vienna and Botanic Gardens Buenos Aires This pair of stamps were part of a joint issue celebrating Argentina's Independence bicentennial. Designed by Michael Rosenfeld In 1862 the city […]
Michael Collins, Irish Republic revolutionary, soldier & politician was assassinated in a roadside ambush on August 22, 1922. Collins was central figure in the Irish fight for independence from British rule. ... Collins never demonised his political opponents and his death in an ambush at Béal na Bláth during the Civil War robbed Ireland of […]
Nazik Al-Malaika, one of Iraq's great modern poets, was born August 22, 1923 in Baghdad. Al-Malaika was an anomaly in her society, and her legacy as a poet resulted from her breaking away from many traditions. Nazik al-Malaika (1923-2007) Iraqi Woman’s Journey Changes Map of Arabic Poetry | Al Jadid Nazik Al-Malaika (1923-2007) Issued by […]
Irish landscape painter Paul Henry died August 24, 1958 in Bray, Ireland. “Cezanne and Van Gogh saw clearly because they had cast aside all the theories and prejudices of the Schools and were looking at nature as if for the first time, and above all seeing it with emotion.” S.B. Kennedy, author of book Paul […]
On August 25, 1835, New York City was shaken by the New York Sun's Great Moon Hoax. The Sun ran a 6 part satirical series about discoveries on the moon, and, like today, many, many people skipped right over the "satire" and leapt to hysteria. GREAT ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERIES LATELY MADE BY SIR JOHN HERSCHEL, L.L.D. […]
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the "Master of Fleas and Father of Microbiology" died August 26, 1723. Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) naturalist Issued by the Dutch post office in 1937 Designed by Samuel Louis (Sem) Hartz The Dutch scientist and entrepreneur Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723) was the first to discover and describe microorganisms (protists, bacteria), living beings […]