Rockall first day cover surfaces on eBay

Signed by Terry Pratchett, by jingo

The Rockall Ho! team - including our very own Lester Haines - which on 16 June successfully landed on the sacred islet of Rockall; way, way out in the North Atlantic - has evidently been mixing it up with the philatelic world.

In what must be one of the world's most unlikely alliances, UK satire outfit The Rockall Times have got together with Terry Pratchett inspired Discworld Stamps to produce a first-day cover signed by all of the Rockall Ho! mob out there at the world's remotest islet and subsequently by Mr Pratchett himself:

Since all of the proceeds of the first day covers go to help the MEdia project of Mental Health Media, Discworld Stamps supremo Bernard Pearson thought it would be a good idea to punt a few covers through eBay. And that's exactly what he's doing, as you can see here.

The blurb explains:

The cover design itself is based upon a Royal Naval Chart formed from a survey done by Captain Vidal R.N. of H.M.S. Pike in 1831, and was created by Bernard. It features two special Cinderella stamps, one designed by Bernard which shows the Discworld island of Leshp. This island features in the Discworld novel 'Jingo' by Pratchett, and has an uncanny resemblance to Rockall in more ways than one. The other [Rockall] stamp has been designed by Mark Valentine, a world authority on Cinderella Stamps.

A top-quality product, make no mistake. We understand that there are only 40 of these signed covers in existence, and most of them have already gone to novelty-hungry philatelists worldwide. Get in there while you can.

Alternatively, if stamps and envelopes are not your thing, why not make an online donation direct to MEdia at the dedicated Rockall Ho! Justgiving page. The current total stands at a respectable £3000-ish (excluding stamp sales and other offline fundraising efforts). Any further generous support will cheer up poor old Lester who is still recovering from the trauma of being menaced by obstreperous guillemots atop Rockall. Bless. ®

Bootnote

There are actually a few covers available on eBay - some signed and others which have been "dipped" in the Atlantic at Rockall. The full listing is right here.