Romfilatelia, the society specialized in editing and trading Romanian postage stamps, releases, on the occasion of 100 years since the great visionary Jules Verne passed away, a philatelic issue called Jules Verne Centenary.
Born in Nantes (France) in 1828, he attends the curses of the Law Faculty in Paris, where he becomes an assiduous visitor of the National Library. Here he devoured the specialty works and he made out the large file which served him for giving veracity to his books.
One more proof testifying that he was indeed a great visionary is a fragment from an interview which appeared in “Neue Wiener Zeitung”, in 1902: “The 20th century gave birth to a new era. My life was filled with real and imaginary events. I have seen many special things, but my fantasy created even greater things. If you only knew how sorry I am that I must end my earthly journey and say goodbye to life at beginning of an epoch that promises so many wonders!”.
The philatelic issue presents, on the four postage stamps, images from stories whose plots take place, totally (“The Castle from the Carpathians”) or partly (“The Stubborn Keraban”, “The Pilot from the Danube”), in Romania of whose true hero is Romanian (Claudius Bombarnac):
“The Castle from the Carpathians” – a love story placed in a Romanian scenery illustrated on the postage stamp with a face value of ROL 19,000.
“The Pilot from the Danube” – a great opportunity where Jules Verne’s adventure takes place in a Romanian setting; the last part of the journey undertaken by the main characters starts with the Danube, at Cazane, ending at the flowing of the river into the sea. The postage stamp has the face value of ROL 21,000.
“Claudius Bombarnac” – a very beautiful novel, educational and thrilling, well structured and with a perfect poise. The postage stamp has a face value of ROL 47,000.
“The Stubborn Keraban” – a novel which abounds in descriptions about Dobrudja of the last decades of the 19th century, made by a French writer; the descriptions have the power of making you feel as if you were always at the described place. The postage stamp has a face value of ROL 56,000.
