*** ESPERANTO POSTER STAMPS AND LABELS ***

Esperanto's earliest success in this regard came in 1914, at the Bugra - the Internationale Ausstellung für Buchgewerbe und Graphik, or International Exhibition for the Book Industry and Graphic Arts, in Leipzig. Official poster stamps advertising that event were published by the promoters in 13 languages - German, French, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, Russian, Chinese, Japanese - and Esperanto. The image below shows a complete set. The stamp at the left end of row 3 is the one in Esperanto - those J's are the Esperanto S's - they make the words plural.

Moreover, there was a separate Esperanto Pavilion at the show, which issued its own stamp in a rainbow of colors, though they're in German, not Esperanto. Go figure.

Still, success at one event like that could have been a fluke, just the result of efforts by a very active local group of Esperantists.

Are there other examples?

Yes, and they range from other international fairs like the Bugra to the Olympic Games, though it is debatable how "official" some of the issues were. Nonetheless, they do show Esperanto's popularity, especially considering that no other artifical language has even one such success. Below are some examples of Esperanto poster stamps for other non-Esperanto events.

Olympic Games

Had there been Olympic Games in 1916, I suspect their poster stamps would have featured a version in Esperanto. The poster stamp for the 1912 Games was issued in 16 languages - but not in Esperanto - so there was a precedent for multi-lingual issues, and the Leipzig Bugra of 1914 had included Esperanto among the languages on its publicity stamp (see above), and many would say that Esperanto was at its peak in 1916. But World War I prevented the 1916 Games, and the 1920 Games were severely reduced. It was 1932 before the practice of multi-lingual stamps for the Olympics was resumed, and I find that puzzling. If ever an international event lent itself to multi-lingual publicity, it is the Olympic Games. And keep in mind that poster stamps were VERY popular back then. Whatever.
1932 Los Angeles Sheetlet of 8 Esperanto poster stamps, circa 1932	I already showed the English version of this sheetlet on the Introduction page of this exhibit. It's not an official issue, none of the US publicity was in foreign languages, but the Cologne-based Esperanto magazine HEROLDO DE SEPERANTO took it upon itself to publicize Esperanto in relation to various topics, including Olympic Games. See? The third stamp in the bottom row shows some sort of sports event, and the text translates "AT OLYMPIADS and international sport meetings SPEAK ESPERANTO." The sheetlet was issued in 12 languages that I know of - English, French, Italian, Swedish, Dutch, Spanish, Czech, Esperanto, German, Hungarian, Polish, and Serbo-Croat. You can see examples of all 12 on the INTRODUCTION page of this exhibit, and HERE is a composite image of ten of them in (almost) full sheetlets.
1956 Cortina, Melbourne, and Stockholm Set of 8 Esperanto poster stamps, Cortina Olympics, 1956 Set of 10 Esperanto poster stamps, Melbourne Olympics, 1956	Set of 4 Esperanto poster stamps, Stockholm Olympics, 1956       These sets occur in other color combinations, and were issued in sheetlets of all the designs. More HERE and HERE and HERE The Olympic rings imply these were issued with the approval of the IOC, but the sets were not issued in any other languages.
There were similar Esperanto-only stamps issued for the Games of 1960, 1964, and 1968.

Budapest International Fair

First held in 1896, and held most years since, the Budapest International Fair (BNV), is one of the oldest continuous trade fairs in Europe. History: http://festivals.topbudapest.org/autumn-festivals/budapest-international-fair-bnv Set of 12 poster stamps, Budapest Fair, 1927 12 languages - rightnmost stamp is in Esperanto During the twenties and thirties, the BNV issued poster stamps in many languages, usually including Esperanto. Click on the year below to view an image of stamps from that year - you can distinguish the Esperanto stamp by the word "FOIRO." 1928   1929   1931   1932   1933   1934   1935   1936   1937   1938   1939   1940   1941   1942

Reichenberg Fair

Reichenberg is the German name for the Czech city of Liberec. Another multi-year affair, the Reichenberg (Liberec) Fair was first held in 1920, and issued stamps for at least the years 1926 through 1938. Set of 3 poster stamps, Reichenberg Fair, 1935 3 languages - rightnmost stamp is in Esperanto Reichenberg issued its stamps in fewer languages - I have seen only Czech, German, French, English and Esperanto. Just the Esperanto versions, 1926-1938

Prague Fair

Prague Fair stamps in Esperanto The Prague Fair (PVV) issued multi-language stamps for only a few years - I have seen 1921 and 1926 thru 1928. Only the 1921 set included an Esperanto version, though there was also this set, in 16 languages, including Esperanto, with no year.

Lyon International Fair

Set of 5 poster stamps for 1934 Lyon Fair Esperanto at left Revived in 1916 from its medieval roots, the Foire de Lyon has been presented most years since, and poster stamps have been issued for many of the events, often in multiple languages. Stamps were issued in Esperanto from 1929 through 1934. Indeed there were even full-sized posters for the fair in Esperanto for some of those years. Assorted publicity for the Lyon Fair in Esperanto, 1929 to 1934

ASSORTED EVENTS

Many other events have had Esperanto stamps associated with them, some as recently as the 1960's. Examples: Antwerp 1930 Barcelona 1957 Bologna 1954 Genoa 1914 Helsinki 1920 Hygiene Expo 1930 Kortruk 1929 Leipzig Trade Fair various years Les Andelys 1933 Novi Sad 1963 Padua 1921