In 2025 Magyar Posta is issuing a “For Youth” miniature sheet commemorating the bicentenary of the birth of Mór Jókai. Magyar Posta devotes the proceeds of the surcharge on the miniature sheets sold, totalling HUF 150 per sheet, to supporting youth stamp collecting. The miniature sheet of four stamps was designed by the graphic artist Nóra Horváth using treasured artefacts kept by the Hungarian National Museum Public Collection Centre’s Petőfi Literary Museum and was produced by the banknote printing company Pénzjegynyomda Zrt. The new issue is available from Filaposta, philately specialist services, certain post offices and www.posta.hu.
Móric Jókay of Ásva, better known as Mór Jókai (1825-1904), was one of the young writers who inspired the revolution of March 1848, a novelist, the “great Hungarian storyteller”, a member of the lower house and then the upper house of the Hungarian Parliament, a member of the board of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, a knight of the Order of St Stephen, and a member of the Kisfaludy Society. He is regarded as a major figure of 19th- century Hungarian literature. Jókai became interested in writing at an early age and produced his first works while still a student. His first novel, Weekdays, published in 1846, immediately attracted critical acclaim.
He played an active role in public life at the time of the 1848-49 Revolution and War of Independence, and his writings promoted the national cause. After the defeat of the War of Independence, he was forced into hiding and then returned to literature, where heachieved great success. Jókai was an extremely prolific writer, who produced over a hundred novels and countless short stories and articles. His works are often romantic in tone and have an intricate plot. His novels are a combination of adventure, history and social issues. He portrayed almost all sections of 19th-century Hungarian society in his writings. His popularity was also due to the fact that he wrote in an easy-to-read style that made major historical events approachable for many. Through his works, Jókai gained a reputation abroad and he remained popular until his death. Apart from being a writer, he was also active in politics, and his oeuvre captured the historical and social order of 19th- century Hungary.
The stamps of the miniature sheet feature a portrait of Mór Jókai and the covers of three of his famous novels, together with objects characteristic of each book. These are the buried treasure chest of the Poor Plutocrats, the personal effects of the young protagonist of The Hungarian Nabob and the shackles, expressing the tragic fate of the main character of The Strange Story of Ráby. The first day cover features a graphic composition of a quill and inkwell in reference to his writing. The quill also appears in the imprint of the postmark on the commemorative first day cover.
