Introduction

The first suggestion that there should be a "Friends of the National Postal Museum" was made in 1978 by then Curator, Tony Rigo de Righi. After much work behind the scenes, an inaugural meeting in 1985 was attended by some 80 people. By the first Council meeting, around 200 people had joined.

With a nationwide membership, the Council quickly recognised the importance of having a journal of high quality. This was greatly helped by first Editor Cyril Parsons, who brought to the task many years of expertise in technical publishing and philately.

Denis Roberts, former Managing Director: Posts and a Council member, suggested Cross Post as the title. It was seen as "… linking the many facets of British philately and postal history". Shaun Webb, a graphic designer and colleague of the editor, was responsible for the logo (based on the Chester name stamp of 1705) and the typographic design as a whole.

The journal continued to be published every Spring and Autumn in its small format pages until the end of volume 10, resulting in 40 black and white issues, with some use of colour beginning in volume 9.

In Autumn 2005, the magazine was radically revamped and now appeared in full colour throughout, printed on high-quality paper in A4 format. It also had a new editor in Richard West, well known for many years of philatelic editorship, not least Stamp Magazine. Coverage within each 52-page issue expanded beyond all recognition and was well received by the membership and beyond.

After 23 A4 issues, the Spring 2017 edition was the last as it had been agreed that the Friends would be wound-up that year, as The Postal Museum wished to introduce its own membership scheme.

In his final "Message from the Chairman", Brian Sole wrote "Cross Post received many plaudits over the years and it is hoped that issues will be retained for future reference". This freely available PDF edition of the entire run of the journal (scanned by Glenn Morgan) is designed to help fulfil that hope.

Editors

Cyril Parsons – Vols. 1/1 to 2/4 (1985-89)
Douglas Myall – Vols. 3/1 to 3/4 (1989-91)
Alan Daniell – Vols. 4/1 to 8/3 (1991-2000)
Geoffrey Eibl-Kaye – Vols. 8/4 to 10/4 (2001-05)
Richard West – Vols. 11/1 to 16/3 (2005-17)