(jw/wm-pcp) This year, the International Stamp Fair in Ulm provided the perfect setting to award the most prestigious literary prize in German philately to a deserving author for the first time in three years. The prize is awarded by the Foundation for the Promotion of Philately and Postal History, whose board members include Alfred Schmidt and trustees Dieter Schaile, Konrad Krämer and Jürgen Witkowski. The committee members for this literary prize include Franz-Karl Lindner, Dr Andreas Hahn from the Museum Foundation for Post and Telecommunications, Wolfgang Maassen, Dr Eckart Bergmann and Jürgen Witkowski.
In accordance with the statutes, this literary prize is awarded either for a single work or for an author’s lifetime contribution to philately or postal history. The work must be of academic merit and make a significant contribution to the field.
Introduced in 1971, the literary prize has been awarded every three years since then and used to come with a cash prize of €2,000. However, in times of tight budgets, this prize money has been discontinued, and there have also been ‘intervals’ – for example, between 2012 and 2019 – when no award ceremony took place. Since 1971, only 20 authors have received this special prize, most recently Jan Billion in 2022.
Another award ceremony took place this year, with the focus being on a work that is virtually unparalleled in its genre. The work is voluminous, spanning three volumes. The first volume was published in 2017, with the second and third volumes following in 2021. Brief bibliographic details:
(Volume 1) Thurn und Taxis Frankaturen 1852–1867 – Briefpost, format: A4, 488 pages, more than 500 colour illustrations, hardcover.
(Volume 2) Postvereine / Hansestädte / Hohenzollern. Format: A4, 24 + 412 pages, 500 colour illustrations, hardcover
(Volume 3) Thurn und Taxis Frankaturen 1852–1867 – Briefpost Postvereinsausland. Format: A4, 24 + 504 pages, 850 colour illustrations, hardcover.
The lead author is Jürgen Naab. All volumes were professionally produced and published by the Christoph Gärtner auction house.
Rainer von Scharpen wrote in a review at the time: “The first volume already caused a sensation and not only won the Golden Posthorn and the DASV Literature Prize in 2019, but was also awarded Grand Gold at the World Expos in Bangkok in 2018 and Wuhan in 2019.
Author Jürgen Naab and his dedicated colleagues deserve nothing but praise for this truly magnificent trilogy. They have honoured and showcased the Thurn und Taxis collection in an unprecedented manner, highlighting its diversity and countless special features that make it a classic among the old German states.
Jürgen Naab is well known in the world of German philately. He has been a member of ArGe Thurn und Taxis since 1982 and served as this working group’s treasurer from 1987 to 2005. He was also its second chairman from 2005 to 2006. Alongside Werner Schäfer (Büttelborn) and Ernst Schröder (Frankenthal), he organised and designed the ‘150 Years of Franko Stamps’ exhibition, held at St. Emmeram Castle in Regensburg in 2002.
Translated with DeepL (www.deepl.com)
