Preface

It began on a quiet afternoon when Mary Parker and Aunt Gertie were sorting through a small box of old envelopes and stamps.

Mary had planned to count how many countries she could find, but one page in Aunt Gertie’s album made her stop — twelve stamps, all showing the same face….George Washington, again and again, but never quite the same.

“One for each mood,” Mary said, grinning.

 

Aunt Gertie smiled. “Not moods, dear — artists. Each one saw him a little differently.”

 

That was all it took. By the next morning, Mary had spread her notebook across the kitchen table, determined to learn about every painter and sculptor behind those twelve portraits. Her search took her from France to London to Mount Vernon — and finally, back to Washington, D.C., where she discovered the men who engraved the stamps themselves.

Along the way, she found that history isn’t just what’s printed in textbooks.
It lives in the stories behind small things — a profile traced in metal, a face carved in marble, a portrait left unfinished on an artist’s easel.
Each stamp became a clue, each artist a guide, and each discovery another spark for her imagination.

 

 

This volume grew out of “Mary’s Collections”, where Mary Parker first learned the joy of collecting and the thrill of finding meaning in tiny details.

Now, in Mary Parker Stamp Adventures, that curiosity continues — showing how even the smallest treasures can open doors to art, history, and wonder. 

If Mary could see this book today, she might be puzzled by the tiny square patterns printed beside some of the stamps. In her 1950s world, such things didn’t exist—no one could have imagined scanning a picture to visit a museum or watch a film! These modern QR codes are our small concession to the future, added so that readers can explore the artwork, portraits, and archives that inspired each commemorative. Think of them as windows Mary herself would have loved to look through—had she only known what was coming.

 

(Images of Washington stamps contained in this book are from the author's personal collection).