Cuba Week: Busboys and Poets Books Presents Delivering Cuba Through The Mail Cuba’s Presence In Non-Cuban Postage Stamps and Envelopes
Date and Time
Oct 19, 2022 6:30 pm
Location
Takoma
235 Carroll St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20012
Oct 19, 2022 6:30 pm
Takoma
Busboys and Poets Books Welcomes Emilio Cueto to the Nicolas Guillen room to discuss his book "Delivering Cuba through the Mail: Cuba’s Presence in Non-Cuban Postage Stamps and Envelopes"
In 1899, after Cuba had become separated from Spain and was under US occupation, the first set of Cuban stamps were printed in the US. Cuba was beginning to tell its own story on stamps. And that has been the practice ever since. As a result, finding Cuba-related images in Cuban postage stamps is to be expected and comes as no surprise to anyone.
Much less known and studied is the fact that, from time to time, Cuba somehow shows up in foreign postage stamps as well as in so-called “cinderellas” (resembling stamps, but not issued for postal purposes). It also appears in the design of souvenir sheets outside of the stamps themselves and in the cachets printed on commemorative envelopes and postcards. This is a fascinating story in itself and the one told in this book for the first time.
Emilio Cueto has lived in the United States since 1961. He is the author of Mialhe’s Colonial Cuba (1992), Cuba in Old Maps (1999), Illustrating Cuba's Flora and Fauna (2002), La Cuba Pintoresca de Frédéric Mialhe (Catauro 2010 award), La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre en el Alma del Pueblo Cubano (2014), Camagüey en la música (Puerta de Papel 2015 award), and Las litografias santiagueras del Departamento Oriental de la Isla de Cuba (2015).
