Issue date: 23 Nov, 2006
The Spanish Post commemorates the 50th anniversary of the death of Pío Baroja with a stamp depicting a portrait of the writer, born in San Sebastian on the 28th December 1872 and who died in Madrid on the 30th October 1956.
During his childhood, Pío Baroja lived with his family in various Spanish cities. He studied medicine in Madrid and Valencia and he obtained his Doctorate with the thesis “Pain. Study of Psycophisics”, published in 1896. After two years of medical practise in Cestona, he returned to Madrid where he ran a bakery inherited from a relative. He published his first books in 1900, Vidas sombrías and La casa de Aizgorri and collaborated by the time with various publications and began to travel around Europe. Meanwhile he lived in Madrid and his country house in Itzea, in Vera de Bidasoa. In 1935 he became member of the Real Academia Española (Spanish Royal Academy). After the outbreak of the civil war, he moved to France where he lived until 1940. He then returned to Madrid where he developed his literary work until he died. Although Pío Baroja practised various literary genre, with novels he reached his best and although he wrote some loose pieces, most of them he gathered in trilogies although they had little in common. Amongst the vast literary production of Baroja, the following are the best known: Zalacain el aventurero (1909); El árbol de la ciencia (1911); Las inquietudes de Shanti Andia (1911); El laberinto de las sirenas (1923); las veleidades de la fortuna (1927); Los visionarios (1932); Locuras de carnaval (1937); Susana (1938); El caballero de Erlaiz (1944); El puente de las animas (1945); El cantor vagabundo (1950) and Las veladas del chalet Gris (1951), amongst many others. He also wrote a long historic novel Memorias de un hombre de acción, based on the life of an adventurous ancestor of his, besides many short stories, essays and some dramatic plays and a book of poems. Baroja, an outstanding member of the 98 Generation, concerned about life in Spain at the time, tried to capture in his work the social scene of his generation.
Rate A - €0.75. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, up to 20 g.
Rate A2 - €0.85. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, between 20 g and 50 g.
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Rate C - €1.75. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the rest of the world (except USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand), up to 20 g.
Rate D - €2.10. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, up to 20 g.