Collect British Postmarks from Stanley Gibbons

It is refreshing to see that Stanley Gibbons, Ltd., a great seller of stamps in the U.K. and worldwide has also a definitive catalog of British postmarks. Many stamp collectors who are familiar with postal history – and postal history really does begin when the first markings are put on a piece of stamped mail – will be happy to add Gibbons’ Collect British Postmarks – The Handbook to British Postmarks and their Values (8th Edition) to their reference libraries.

Those collectors who are familiar with early U.S. postmarks in the Scott's Specialized Catalog of United States Stamps and Covers, which features early cancels and later commemorative cancels for the Columbian Exposition of 1893, the Pan American Exposition and the like will be stunned upon seeing the variety and breadth of cancels covered in Collect British postmarks. It is literally enough to make one drop what he is doing and pursue the fascinating area.

British postmarks were used in North America roughly until the mid 1770s when the Continental Congress enacted a law for a non-British postal system, though one continued to operate at the same time as the American system. The British colonial post finally ended in 1783 with the signing of the Treaty of Peace.

In Collect British Postmarks we see the progression from early Dockwra pre-stamp markings, through the Provincial and Penny Post markings all the way through cancels from the Gulf War. Remarkably, the book is kept down in size and volume of information, as the publisher feels it best serves its users in a handbook size, rather than one of encyclopedic heft. Still the book manages to include a wealth of information running to cancels and postmarks away from the mainland, including Ireland, Scotland and the Channel Islands.

There is a good section listing the postmarks that resulted from the early mechanization of canceling mail, which came as early as the 1850s with a machine that was invented by Pearson Hill. His machine was powered by steam and could cancel over 100 letters per minute. Hill was the progeny of Rowland Hill, the man credited with inventing the postage stamp, aka pre-paid postage, the first example of which, the Penny Black, is one of the most iconographic philatelic images in the world.

The Gibbons catalog points out that experimentation in canceling machines was still taking place over 100 years later, with a better way to cancel large packages (aka flats) being sought by the post office. The large variety of machine-created cancels through history such as Rideout’s Machine No. 1 and the Parallel Motion Machine (also invented by Hill), are listed along with bright and clear illustrations of the postmarks the machines produced.

With a nod to the growing popularity of topical (or as it's known in Britain, thematic) collecting there are special events and slogan postmarks in categories like Aviation, Islands and Royalty. Rare early events from mid-19th century like agricultural expos are dealt with, while the listed prices of some of these rarities puts them in league with classic rare stamps of the era.

Common as well as important maritime (including paquebots and HMS Ships, etc.) items are listed and there is an extensive listing of military, outpost and camp postmarks from early conflicts like the Crimean and Boer wars, through the world wars and into forces postmarks used in modern times in the Persian Gulf and British Forces mail from around the world.

There are even basic markings such as those found on day to day mail including "Postage Dues" and "To Pay" varieties, while there is also the more unusual and esoteric material, exemplified by the markings used on the mail of Royalty and the House of Parliament.

Stanley Gibbons Collect British Postmarks, a thorough and definitive consideration of the topic, well deserves the attention of every stamp collector and philatelist.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.