Jimmy Page launches set of stamps featuring classic album covers

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page has launched a new set of stamps featuring classic album covers from the last 40 years.

Of the thousands of pieces of artwork the Royal Mail shorlisted ten, including Led Zeppelin IV, the classic 1971 album that contained 'Stairway To Heaven' and which sold 32 million copies.

"Almost 40 years after the album came out, nobody knows the old man who featured on the cover, nor the artist who painted him - that sort of sums up what we wanted to achieve with the album cover, which has remained both anonymous and enigmatic at the same time," Sky News quoted Page, who helped design the artwork for IV, as saying.

The set included Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, The Division Bell by Pink Floyd and Parklife by Blur.

"For decades the album sleeve has been the canvas for some of the most imaginative graphic artists in the world, and this issue celebrates this unique art form and some of its greatest examples," Royal Mail's head of special stamps Julietta Edgar said.

"We hope customers will enjoy the opportunity to send or collect these classic album designs in their smallest format yet - as miniature works of art on millions of 1st class stamps," she added.

The other albums featured are: A Rush Of Blood To The Head - Coldplay; Power, Corruption And Lies - New Order; Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones; London Calling - The Clash; Screamadelica - Primal Scream; The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars - David Bowie.