India on International Children’s Book Fair 1979
A commemorative postage stamp on the International Children‘s Book Fair, New Delhi :
Issued by India
Issued on Nov 10, 1979
Issued for : The P & T Department is happy to mark the occasion with the issue of a commemorative stamp.
Description of Design : The stamp depicts a child with books.
Designed by : India Security Press, based on a Photograph by Shri Amarjeet Singh Padam.
Type : Stamp, Postal Used
Colour : Multicolour
Denomination : 100 Paise
Overall size : 4.06 X 3.75 cms.
Printing size : 3.70 X 3.30 cms.
Perforation : 14 X 14½
Watermark : Printed on unwatermarked adhesive stamp paper
Number printed : 30,00,000
Number per issue sheet : 30
Printing process : Photogravure
Printed at : India Security Press
About :
- Long long ago when books, as we know them today, were not there the grandparents, mostly the grandmother, used to tell stories to the children. In every ethnic community, the elders performed and still perform the task of narrating the folklore and ethnic mythology to the children. Gradually, oral communication gave way to writing, beginning with barks and leaves leading on to stone and metal tablets and then culminating in discovery of paper and invention of printing. When books came to be written, the children’s books imitated the tales told at twilight by the grandma. The stories and fables narrated by the elders of the tribe and later on by the grandparents in the family had the dual purpose of entertainment and education. The children’s literature of today has come a long way from the early days of printing. A vast variety of attractively produced books on every subject, written specially for the children, are available now. The paramount importance of the role of healthy literature in the flowering of a child’s personality has come to be accepted by every country.
- In India, the classic tales form ‘Panchatantra‘ and ‘Hitopadesa‘, ‘Ramayana‘ and ‘Mahabharata‘ and other epics have held generations of children in thrall. However, the children’s books are a later development. Bengal had the distinction of bringing out the first ever children’s book more than a century ago when a collection of stories narrated by the well-known scholar, Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, to the neighbourhood children was published in book form. There was a paucity of sustained and creative effort to produce indigenous reading material for children which serves the twin purpose of education and entertainment. Fifteen years ago, the well-known artist, cartoonist and scholar, “Shankar“ established the Children’s Book Trust with the aim of bringing out attractive and interesting books for children in various Indian languages and English at a low cost. During the decade and a half of its existence, the Children’s Book Trust has brought out 300 titles in English and Indian languages for the children of all age groups.
- One of the slogans for the International Year of the Child is “Children’s Books for a Better World“. Children’s Book Trust celebrates the Year of the Child by organising the International Children’s Book Fair in New Delhi from November 10-19, 1979 and dedicates it to the children of the world.
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