Philately - The Fiction Connection
The Mystery Box book is the proud winner of a Silver Medal awarded by the Chicago Philatelic Society CHICAGOPEX Literature Exhibit
Read the Book Review by Barbara Kinne of the APS American Philatelist
J.R.R. Tolkien
The Fellowship of the Ring
Like the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt and Meso-America, the runes may have originally been a sacred or magical language, since the word itself is derived from the Old German word for secrecy.
Contemporary scholars believe there is a link between the old Etruscan alphabet and the runes, although pictographic rock carving was a skill known to prehistoric Scandinavians. The earliest runic inscriptions, most of which are found in Sweden, date from the 3rd century AD.
Rune scholarship is complicated by the fact that the sacred meanings of the runes died out with the last of the runemasters sometime in the 13th century. Furthermore, several rune alphabets or futharks have been left behind to puzzle scholars.
Contemporary scholars believe there is a link between the old Etruscan alphabet and the runes, although pictographic rock carving was a skill known to prehistoric Scandinavians. The earliest runic inscriptions, most of which are found in Sweden, date from the 3rd century AD.
Rune scholarship is complicated by the fact that the sacred meanings of the runes died out with the last of the runemasters sometime in the 13th century. Furthermore, several rune alphabets or futharks have been left behind to puzzle scholars.
The runes were also used, like other languages, for the more mundane purposes of record keeping, including historical record keeping.
The Jelling runestone of Denmark, shown below on Scott 342, appears to have been erected by King Harald Bluetooth, the monarch who Christianized Denmark, sometime around 1000 AD.
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The stone is carved with intricate scrollwork and Christian themes. |
Another famous runestone is the Alstad stone of Norway, carved in the Ringerike ornamental style sometime in the 9th century.
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A section of the stone is shown on Scott 586 depicting a mounted Viking warrior bordered by runes. |
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Of great interest to Lord of the Rings fans such as myself is a postal booklet issued by Great Britain in 1992. The booklet celebrates the centenary of J.R.R.Tolkien's birth. The cover and two pages from the booklet are shown here. One of the pages contains a rune message composed by Tolkien and the other a runic script invented by the author.
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The Master of Middle Earth created several runescripts
for use in his fiction. His futharks are based on informed
scholarship for he was a renowned student and teacher of Old English literature.
If your appetite has been whetted to learn more rune lore, follow the link to Jennifer Smith's fascinating site, The Runic Journey.
Of the three major "futharks" shown at The Runic Journey, which one has the stamp designer used to compose the names of the gods on the Swedish set of stamps discussed in the preceding article, Odin's Game?
If you think you cracked the Norse Code, drop me an e-mail with your address and I'll send you a Mystery Box postcard carried to your door by Valkyries and vintage American postage.
