1000 years 1000 words, A Celebration of the Royal Mail Millennium Stamps project

Paperback. Near Fine. Camberwell Press in association with Royal Mail, 1999, only edition, published in an edition of 2000 copies; 150x136mm, 120pp, unnumbered and each consisting of a folded sheet uncut at the fore-edge and perforated horizontally at the midline; hand bound by Shepherds Bookbinders in charcoal paper over card and designed to mimic an envelope, all edges silvered; very small smudge on the upper corner of one of the blank pages towards the end but otherwise a near fine copy. *** *** *** The book is the intended outcome of the Royal Mail Millennium Stamps project and is a wonderful celebration of British art and design. 48 specially designed stamps, four a month, were commissioned from a range of British artists and issued during 1999. These were printed in 11 rather than the usual four colours and all 48 are included (as real stamps) in the volume, each stamp framed by imaginative and appropriate text by Michael Benson. As Jonathan Glancy writes in his review in the "Guardian" headed "The Stamp of Genius" and published in the books section on 2000/nov/24, " ... the effect as a whole speaks volumes. British art, design, wit and whimsy squeezed into a book no bigger than hymns ancient and modern. This tiny book sings a song of British creativity with far greater clarity than the dumb dome in Greenwich. ". Now rare, particularly when complete and in such exceptional condition.