I’ve long forgotten when I first saw the 1969 East German stamp that pictures the Planeta-Variant printing press, an amazing machine that had a significant presence in my professional life. When I first sighted that stamp while still a student, I probably didn’t bother to note the press name in the upper left corner. The stamp is one of two promoting the annual Leipziger Fruhjahrsmess (Leipzig Spring Fair), a trade fair that traces its roots back to the Middle Ages. 
The famous exhibition logo (at right) designed by Erich Gruner in 1917, is also shown on the stamp. That logo is probably second only to “DDR” in the number of times it has appeared on East German stamps.
In 1980 I accepted a job with the Geo W King Company in Baltimore, a 100 year old firm, that billed itself as a provider of advertising, corporate communications and printing. King had three large-format, 2-color, sheetfed offset presses, two of which were Planetas, as well as smaller single color presses, and a reputation for being one of the finest offset lithographers in the region. Many a publication and poster for the National Gallery of Art in Washington were printed by King.
The history of the Planeta company and press is one that includes many technical advances in printing:
1898 – Dresden Schnellpressenfabrik founded by Joseph Hauss and Alfred Sparbert.
1902 – Company patents the “planetary drive” (source of the Planeta name) for letterpress presses.
1910 approx – Company acquires bankrupt stamping and enameling plant in Naundorf (Radebeul today).
1922 – First Planeta sheetfed press leaves factory in Radebeul.
1932 – Company launches the world’s first four-color sheetfed offset press, the Planeta-Deca.
1938 – Company name changed to Planeta.
1945 – Factories completely destroyed in war.
1946 – Planeta Druckmaschinenwerk virtually ceases to exist.
1948 – Planeta makes a fresh start as VEB Druckmaschinenwerk Planeta.
1965 – Launch of the world’s first unit-type litho press, the Variant 4—a press design that has since become the accepted norm. (Unit refers to the two towers in the center of the pictured press. Each tower, or unit, houses the ink well, cylinders and rollers for a single ink color.)
1990 – Collaborative agreement is signed with Koenig & Bauer, a company tracing its origins back to the first power press manufactured by Friedrich Koenig and sold to The Times (London) in 1814.
1990 – Koenig & Bauer increases its stake in Planeta to 75.2% and renames it KBA-Planeta AG.
1994 – Koenig & Bauer acquires the remaining 24.8% interest in KBA-Planeta AG.
1998 – Planeta celebrates its centenary.
Portions of the historical chronology adapted from Koenig & Bauer website (https://www.koenig-bauer.com/en/holding/history/) and used with permission of Koenig & Bauer.
Today I did just that, and was drawn to the 1993 stamps from the People’s Republic of China featuring paintings of Zheng Benqiao. The six stamps of the set were used on two first day covers—three stamps on each. One of the covers is shown above. The beauty of the calligraphy and the use of delicate brushstrokes in the paintings gently, but profoundly, convey a sense of peace and balance in life.
Zheng Benqiao (1693-1765) was from Xinghua, Jiangsu Province, along the eastern-central coast of China. He began life poor, and his father taught him as a child to paint. Through singular application to his studies, he became a magistrate in Shandong Province, but was uncomfortable with the magistrate’s life and critical of the life of government officials. After a little more than a decade as magistrate, he was reportedly criticized for building a shelter for the poor, and he resigned his position. He then began selling paintings to earn a living.
Zheng expressed himself through his artwork. He was adept at freehand ink and wash painting and was eventually recognized as one of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, known for their individualistic and expressive artistic styles. Zheng is best known for his drawings of bamboo, orchids, and rocks. His calligraphic style was influenced by his drawings of graceful orchids and firm bamboo. He stressed the combination of poetry, calligraphy and painting, adding lines from poems to his paintings to more fully express this themes.
Why do I collect stamps? The images! Many collectors want to delve into the meaning behind those images—to explore. I do that too, but oftentimes it’s simply the imagery that excites and satisfies me.
I always look closely at stamps featuring houses and trees. Why? I’m just interested in the amazing variety of structures people build for themselves.
simplicity of their appearance—trunk, branches, leaves—has more affinity for me. And maybe it’s their size too. Maybe it’s because I climbed so many as a boy and could hide in the cover of their leaves—watching all from above. And maybe too it’s because we children could 
play with our little cars and soldiers and cowboys in the raised roots of the fat old oaks behind our house.
stop will be the 
Spring is coming to the Mid-Atlantic (too slowly for me). Has it always been thus?
What a difference 800 years makes—even 10 years! In 2016, Liechtenstein gave us the 
My Favorite Gutenberg stamp was issued by Germany in 1983, one of a pair of Europa stamps. That stamp features a piece of cast metal type against a background of Gutenberg’s gothic type letters that can be found in his printing. The stamp focuses on the most significant aspect of the printing method he developed—movable type. And personally, I see in the imagery of one piece of movable type against a background of numerous printed letters as a graphic metaphor for the explosion of knowledge that Gutenberg’s “invention” made possible.
