G3601

Women in Journalism

Nellie Bly

Collins Cover Announcement 

Nettie Bly

Women in Journalism

Nellie Bly, at age 25, embarked on her most famous exploit when she set off to beat the fictional record of Jules Verne's Phileas Fogg who had traveled around the world in eighty days Her boss, New York World editor Joseph Pulitzer, agreed to fund the trip and held a contest to see who could come closest to guessing the time it would take Nellie to travel around the globe.

My hand painted cachet commemorates this true-life adventure as it shows the attractive Bly during her hurried journey. A cute monkey sits on her shoulder as she hastily travels on. To provide examples of modes of transportation of the period, I've shown an oriental junk sailing vessel and a vintage steam train. Nellie beat the fictional Fogg by more than a week, as she arrived back in New York City 72 days, six hours, eleven minutes and 14 seconds after starting.

Nellie Bly was actually the pen name of Elizabeth Jane Cochrane Seaman who was born May 5, 1864. From an early age, she had a vivid imagination and a relentless personal drive. At age 18, she was hired as a full-time reporter for The Pittsburgh Dispatch. In 1887, Bly went to work for the New York World newspaper. She often went undercover in disguise to get stories about labor conditions, housing problems, the treatment of women, and poverty. At one point, she pretended to be mad to gain admittance to an insane asylum so she could reveal the poor treatment given to the mentally ill. Bly covered World War I on the Eastern Front and died of pneumonia shortly thereafter on January 27, 1922.

This hand painted cachet is a real eye-catcher, and you'll enjoy having it in your collection. In the coming weeks, there will be three more excellent cachets in this mini-set of four FDCs honoring women pioneers in the field of journalism. For now, I'm pleased to present the attractive and adventurous Nellie as she travels around the world. Collins #G3601 — $12.25