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Carl Durheim (1810–1890) was the manufacturer of the first federal stamps. In a book published to coincide with BERNABA 2025, freelance journalist Caroline Doka tells the almost forgotten story of the Bernese lithographer.
Ms Doka, what inspired you to write a book about Durheim?
Jean-Paul Bach, Managing Director of the Foundation for the Promotion of Philately, came to me with the idea for this book. As a freelance journalist and enthusiastic genealogist, I love researching long-forgotten stories in archives.
How did the research work go?
It was intense! As always with stories that seem lost to the past, it took a lot of patience, work, persistence, luck, and not least the help of many people. Since I’m not an expert on stamps, Jean-Paul Bach lent me a hand on that subject.
What exactly is the book about?
The book goes well beyond Carl Durheim’s commission for the first federal stamps.
It tells the story of his professional career as a lithographer and Swiss photography pioneer, his private life, his family and his home town. That’s why it is called “A Bernese Story”.
How did Durheim come to be commissioned to print the federal stamps?
We looked into this question meticulously and with a great deal of effort. While there is no definitive evidence of this, he probably received the commission in some measure thanks to his father Karl Jakob Durheim’s excellent connections in the Federal Administration and the Federal Council.
The so-called Durheim issues are today one of the most sought-after areas of in- terest for collectors in Swiss philately. With this book, which we hope will appeal not only to stamp experts, we would like to introduce Carl Durheim and his fascinating federal stamps to a public far be- yond philatelic circles.
What fascinates you personally about him?
Durheim’s life is an interesting moral history of life in the 19th century. In the course of our research and compilation
of all of the data that was previously obscure, Carl Durheim as a person really grew on us. Personally, I’m fascinated by his optimism, his abiding curiosity andcreativity, his efforts to be a decent person and his passion for the mountains. I think he had a sense of humour and a winning personality – I have little doubt I would have got on well with him.
