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Postage Stamps

Works (general or specific in nature) on British adhesive postage stamps.

We have tried to list these as far as possible in date order of their subject matter, although since many of the books and monographs cover a wide date range of material this can only be approximate.

General

A General Survey of GB Stamps
ed. Hassan Shaida
[37pp, 6.0MB, 1990]
Special edition of The GB Journal for Stamp World London 1990

The Postage and Telegraph Stamps of Great Britain
Frederick Philbrick and William Westoby
[430pp, 11.3MB, 1881]
The first classic work on GB stamps

The Adhesive Stamps of the British Isles
Hastings Wright and A.B.Creeke
[337pp, 169MB, 1899]
Another classic work: text extracted by Allan Oliver, inc. original amendments

The De La Rue History of British & Foreign Postage Stamps 1855 to 1901
John Easton
[932pp, 89MB, 1958]
Detailed text with many archive documents quoted

The Line-Engraved Postage Stamps of Great Britain Printed by Perkins, Bacon & Co (Vol I)
Edward Denny Bacon
[290pp, 15.4MB, 1920]
A classic and important work on GB stamps

The Line-Engraved Postage Stamps of Great Britain Printed by Perkins, Bacon & Co (Vol II)
Edward Denny Bacon
[354pp, 15.5MB, 1920]
A classic and important work on GB stamps

Great Britain Numbers Issued 1840 to 1910
Rikki Hyde
[42pp, 2.2MB, 2008]
The updated version published by Stanley Gibbons, used with kind permission

Life Span of the Printing Plates for all the Postage Stamps of Queen Victoria
Allan Oliver
[331pp, 115MB, 2021]
31 July 2021 revision

A Rearrangement into Numerical Order of the Measurements in The Plating of the Penny
Mike Batty
[1500pp, 8.3MB, 2024]
7th edition, January 2024

Features of the First Stamp
Alan Holyoake
[22pp, 36MB, 2015]
A GBPS Diamond Jubilee Festival Presentation

Repairs of the 1840 One Penny Plates 1-40
J.W.M.Stone
[48pp, 183KB, 2007]
Revised by John McCulloch, Geoffrey Mason and the Mulready Group

Archer Covers Survey in Plate Order
Ray Simpson
[30KB, 2022]
As referenced in GBJ 60/1

Repairs of the 2d Blue Plate 9
Norval J.C. Strachan
[174pp, 41MB, 2015]
Based on the book "Two Pence Plate Nine" by H.Osborne

Essays, Proofs, Colour Trials and Reprints of the Line-Engraved Stamps
Edward Denny Bacon
[31pp, 2.3MB, 1936]
GBPS library copy scanned

Penny Red Stars Used Abroad
Mike Batty
[265pp, 9.4MB, 2024]
11th edition, January 2024

QV Stamped to Order Postcards
Maurice Buxton
[31pp, 6.0MB, 2020]
PDF of a Zoom presentation

The Mystery of the Shilling Green
Fred J. Melville
[42pp, 6.6MB, 1926]
Melville's pamphlet on the "Stock Exchange Forgery", plus additional material

British Stamp Booklets Parts 1-9
Jean Alexander and Leonard Newbury
[208pp, 36MB, 1987‑94 and 1997]
Full text of the GBPS publication (originally GBJ)

King George V One Penny Downey Head – A Reference Guide
Colin Wilde
[20pp, 2.9MB, 2022]
Controls, plate numbers, marks and flaws with sheet perforation types

1935 KGV Silver Jubilee - Illustrated Catalogue of Flaws and Varieties on the Booklet Stamps
Harvey Russell
[27pp, 2.4MB, 2015]

Enid Marx Letters re Wilding design
[10pp, 4.5MB, 1952]
Small correspondence file, between Wilding designer, GPO, Harrisons

Postal Arrangements to Cover the Issue of UK Commemorative Stamps 1953-66
W.R.Wellsted and C.Langston
[49pp, 5.1MB, 1967]
GBPS library copy scanned

British Post Office Phosphors
Austin Barnes
[62pp, 6.4MB, 2015]
A GBPS Diamond Jubilee Festival Presentation

A Comparison Between the Definitive Stamps of Two Crown Peculiars
Robin Tibbenham
[87pp, 15.5MB, 2011]

Stamp Perforation: The Somerset House Years 1848-1880

This book, by GBPS members Ray Simpson and Peter Sargent, was published by the Royal Philatelic Society London in 2006, and reprinted in 2014. It is largely responsible for the increased popularity of stamp perforation varieties. Parts 1 and 2 of the book dealt with the history and introduction of perforation, whereas Part 3 covered perforation varieties, with a large section on constant perforation varieties.

This PDF extract from the 2014 edition includes the majority of Part 3, and has been made available by the RPSL to share the information. The intention is to generate feedback from as many collectors as possible so that the authors can provide a comprehensive update in due course.

In addition, perforation pin illustrations for the broken pin varieties on Archers, 1d/2d Stars, and surface printed issues have been produced in both Microsoft Word and PDF format so collectors can simply copy & paste to add to their album pages, or print on acetate sheets as overlays to check varieties on and off cover.

Stamp Perforation Book Extract
Simpson & Sargent
[109pp, 6.5MB, 2014]

Broken Pin Variety Illustrations – Line Engraved
Simpson & Sargent
[9pp, 549KB, 2014]

Broken Pin Variety Illustrations – Line Engraved
Simpson & Sargent
[9pp, 319KB, 2014]

Broken Pin Variety Illustrations – Surface Printed
Simpson & Sargent
[5pp, 360KB, 2014]

Broken Pin Variety Illustrations – Surface Printed
Simpson & Sargent
[5pp, 409KB, 2014]