This Polish stamp sheet was issued in 1946 with education as its subject. The letters B, I and E in the bottom right corner of the stamps indicate that Poland was then a member of the International Bureau of Education (BIE = Bureau International d’Education). What is now known as the IBE was founded in 1925, as a private non-governmental organisation, by leading Swiss educators to provide intellectual leadership and to promote international co-operation in education. Since 1969, it has been part of the UNESCO Secretariat with its own statutes.
The stamp above left shows the courtyard of the Jagiello Library in Kraków, established in 1364 and one of the largest and most famous libraries in Poland. In the courtyard stands the monument of Mikolaj Kopernik (better known as the mathematician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus 1473-1543). The middle stamp here has a portrait of Grzegorz Piramowicz, Catholic priest, educator, writer and philosopher. He was a member of the Commission of National Education and the Society for Elementary Books and one of the founders of the Society of Friends of the Constitution. The stamp on the right celebrates the Society for Elementary Books (Towarzystwo do ksiąg elementarnych) founded in 1775. The words in Polish (Międzynarodowe biuro wychowania) common to each stamp, translate as International Bureau of Education.
