The Harrison story starts long before the invention of stamps.
In 1557, we find Richard Harrison, who was a freeman of the ‘mystery and art of printing’ and licensed as a printer of bibles.
The company we know was founded in 1750 by James Harrison, who also designed the logo it used all its life, which featured a hare, a sheaf of rye and a sun.
Based in London’s St Martins Lane, it was highly successful, producing a wide range of books and periodicals, from the bestsellers of the day to academic publications, Burke’s Peerage and the London Gazette. And in the 1880s, Harrison also produced telegraph forms for the Post Office. So they were a natural choice to tender for the Post Office stamp contract – and they duly won the business with prices that De La Rue were unable, or unwilling, to match.
When it came to servicing the business, there were three factors in play.
The expiry of the contract had coincided with that of Edward VII, so new stamps and coins would need to be designed, dies engraved and plates manufactured for all the countries of the Empire.
The Government had split De La Rue’s contract into two. Dies and plates for the new stamps would be
