Stamp printing in the UK started in earnest with the penny black postage stamp which was issued to the public on 6 May 1840 This was the first pre-paid adhesive postage stamp issued anywhere in the world. It was joined on the 7th May 1840 by the 2d blue and then later by the 1d red at the beginning of 1841.
The 1d red was in circulation in various forms until 1879.
The innovation of a stamp to charge for a postal service was the start of the Stamp Printing industry now known as Philatelic Printing and the dawn of a new security printing trade.
The Queen’s head has always been included on UK Stamps, even on modern stamps and First Day Covers (FDC) the main part of the stamp face may be a thematic picture – generally in sets – but the queen’s head still appears as other monarchs have since the first “stamp lady” Queen Victoria appeared. As such, Philatelic Printing and Philatelic Printers has always had a start point for their designs
The security of the stamps produced during this period was ensured through the use of numbered plates and watermarked paper. The plate numbers form the basis of many Philatelist’s work as they try to reconstruct the original plate with all the composite stamps. Other security mistakes form the basis of special collections with inverted watermarks being the most obvious and mis-printed but used stamps being one of the most lucrative. Stamps were lettered from A to L horizontally and from A to T vertically which gave the 12 x 20 format producing 240 stamps.