By Terry Paiste

May 1998
Special to the Washington Post

In 1979, “Earplay” in Minneapolis sent me a postcard acknowledging receipt of my first play.

But the postcard was singed around the edges, as if it had been the guest of honor at a weenie roast. Was this their way of telling me my script had been consigned to a bonfire?

Not so. The accompanying letter from the postal inspector explained my mail had survived an explosion aboard an aircraft.

My husband immediately snatched have up the postcard, letter, and plastic container it had arrived in. (He’s a philatelist. They do odd things like that.)

Gary also cut out newspaper stories about the suspected terrorist bombing. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries. “You can never tell,” he said, ” flashing scissors happily. “Your cover may be valuable some day.”

I knew from all those years of being dragged to stamp show dinners that a cover was any piece of stamped mail.

But valuable? It was possible, I supposed. It was also possible that my one-act play might be turned into a smash Broadway musical, but I wasn’t expecting a phone call from Hal Prince anytime soon.

Fast forward 19 years. Not having heard yet from Prince, I was sitting at the kitchen table, addressing envelopes to theaters around the country, telling them about my most recent play, “A Penny’s Worth of Murder.” (The mystery centers around the Penny Black, the first adhesive stamp. Hey, I had to get something out of being married to a philatelist.) So I wasn’t thrilled to be interrupted by Gary bursting in with a copy of his latest issue of “Linn’s Stamp News.”

“Look at the headline!” he ordered. “They’re writing about a cover like yours!”

I didn’t have to ask which cover. When you own only one, it’s easy to tell them apart.

“New Unabomber cover surfaces from flight that ended in a smoky emergency landing” read the headline. I scanned the article quickly, learning that the bomb was planted 19 years ago by Ted Kaczynski.”

“This is interesting,” I admitted.”Especially where it says the Unabomber used the $1 Eugene O’Neill postage stamp on his bombs. Do you suppose this means he had some creepy admiration for O’Neill’s plays?”

“No,” Gary said patiently. “It means your cover is rare. Very rare.”

Plays forgotten, I immediately adopted my new persona as a stamp collector, possessor of a very rare cover. I tried to compose my features into the same studious expression Gary wears when examining a stamp. After a suitable pause I asked what I considered the reasonable, the appropriate, the philatellically sophisticated question.

“HOW MUCH IS IT WORTH?”

“Maybe something,” Gary replied. “Maybe nothing. Depends on who wants it. Time will tell.”

“I don’t want time to tell me. I want you to tell me. Now. HOW MUCH IS IT WORTH?”

He backed down. “I’ll ask around.”

He did. And he was right the first time. Maybe something. Maybe nothing. Time will tell.

In the meantime, Kaczynski is sitting in a prison cell. Gary is in his study reading articles about you-know-what. And I’m back at the kitchen table, addressing  do to theaters. We’re all where we belong.

But now, I pay more attention to the stamps I stick on those envelopes. You never know when you might discover a valuable error.

We philatelists do odd things like that.

“When I was a boy of about ten, I began to collect stamps. My father didnt altogether approve of it; he thought itd make me neglect my lessons, but I had a pal, Lojzik Cepelka, and we used to share our passion for foreign stamps. Lojziks father used to play a barrel-organ, Lojzik was a messy kid with freckles, as unkempt as a sparrow, a regular ragamuffin, but I was fond of him, in the way that schoolboys are fond of a friend. You know, Im an old man; Ive had a wife and children; yet I have to say that none of our feelings are finer than friendship. But youre only capable of it when youre young; later on, you get sort of crusty and selfish. A friendship of the sort Im telling about springs simply and solely from enthusiasm and admiration, from excess of vitality, from abundance and overflow of emotion; youve got so much of it that you simply have to give it away to somebody. My father was a lawyer, the chief man among the local bigwigs, a most dignified and severe person, and I palled around with Lojzik, whose father was a drunken organ-grinder and whose mother was a downtrodden laundress, and yet 1 venerated and idolized Lojzik, because he was smarter than me, because he could shift for himself and was as plucky as they make them, because he had freckles on his nose and could throw stones left-handed——in fact, I cant remember all the things that made me so attached to him; but it was certainly the closest attachment I’ve ever had.

“And so Lojzik was my trusty comrade when I began to collect stamps. Somebody once said that only men have the collecting instinct,. and its true. I suppose that the craze for collecting things must be the survival of an instinct dating back to the times when every male collected the heads of his enemies, the spoils of war, bearskins, stags antlers and~, in fact, anything he could capture as booty. But a stamp collection possesses one quality that makes it a perpetual adventure; it somehow excites you to touch a bit of some distant country, such as Bhutan, Bolivia or the Cape of Good Hope; it brings you into a sort of personal and intimate touch with these foreign countries. So there is something about stamp-collecting that suggests travel by land and sea, and deeds of derring-do in general. Its very much the same as the Crusades.

“As I was saying, my father didnt exactly approve of it; as a rule, fathers dont approve if their sons do something different from what they themselves have done; as a matter of fact, im just the same with my own sons. This business of being a father is a sort of mixed feeling: theres a great deal of affection in it, but theres also a certain prejudice, mistrust, hostility or whatever you may choose to call it. The more affection you have for your children, the more there is of this other feeling. Anyway, I had to hide my stamp collection in the attic, so that my father couldnt catch me with it. In the attic there was an old chest, a sort of flour bin, and we used to crawl into it like a couple of mice to have a look at each others stamps. Look here, this is a Netherlands, this is an Egyptian, this is Sverige, or Sweden. And because we had to hide our treasures like that, there was something deliciously sinful about it. The way I got hold of those stamps was also an adventurous business; I used to go round to families I knew, and those I didnt, and beg and pray to let me soak the stamps off their old letters. Now and then I came across people who had drawers.

crammed full of old papers stored away, in an attic or desk; those were my most delightful hours when, sitting on the floor, I sorted out those dusty piles of litter to try and find stamps I hadnt already got–you see, 1 was silly enough not to collect duplicates, and when I happened to come across an old Lombardy or one of those tiny German states or free cities, why, the thrill I had was perfectly agonizing–every vast happiness has a sweet pang about it. And in the meantime, Lojzik was waiting for me outside, and when at last I crept out, I whispered right in the doorway, ‘Lojzik, Lojzik, I found a Hanover in there!–Have you got it?–Yes. And away we ran with our booty, home to our treasure chest.

“In our town there were factories that turned out all sorts of trash: jute, calico, cotton, and shoddy wool–the rubbish that we produce specially for the colored races all over the world. They used to let me ransack their wastepaper baskets, and that was my happiest hunting ground; there I came across stamps from Siam and South Africa, China, Liberia, Afghanistan, Borneo, Brazil, New Zealand, India, the Congo–I wonder whether the mere sound of the names gives you the same sense of mystery and glamor as it does me. Good heavens, what joy, what frantic joy I felt when I found a stamp from, say, the Straits Settlements, or Korea or Nepal or New Guinea or Sierra Leone or Madagascar! I tell you, that particular rapture can be realized only by a hunter or a treasure-seeker or an archaeologist whos doing excavations. To seek and to find–thats the greatest thrill and satisfaction a man can get out of life. Everybody ought to seek something; if not stamps, then truth or golden ferns or at least stone arrowheads and ashtrays.

!Well, those were the happiest years of my life, my friendship with Lojzik and stamp-collecting. Then I had scarlet fever and tfiey wouldnt let Lojzik come to see me, but he used to stand in the hall and whistle so that I could hear him. One day they must have taken their eyes off me or something; anyway, I got out of bed and slipped upstairs to the attic to have a look at my stamps. 1 was so feeble that I could hardly lift the lid of the trunk. But the trunk was empty; the box containing the stamps was gone.

“I cant describe to you how distressed and horror-stricken I was. I think I must have stood there as if Id been turned to stone, and I couldnt even cry, there was such a lump in my throat. First of all, it was appalling to me that my stamps, my greatest joy, were gone–but what was more appalling was that Lojzik, the only friend I had, must have stolen them while I was ill. I felt overwhelmed, dismayed, dumbfounded, despondent–you know, its amazing how much a child can suffer. How I got out of that attic, I dont know; but after that I had a high fever again and during my clearer moments I pondered in despair. I never said a word about this to my father or my aunt–I had no mother–I knew that they simply wouldnt understand me and thus I became rather estranged from them. From that time onwards my feelings for them ceased to be close and childlike. Lojziks treachery affected me terribly; it was the first time anyone had played me false. ‘A beggar, I said to myself, ‘Lojziks a beggar and thats why he steals; it serves, me right for fooling around with a beggar. And this hardened my heart; it was then I began to draw a distinction between one person and another–I forfeited my state of social innocence; but at the time I didnt realize what a shock it had been to me and how much damage it had caused.

“When I had got over my fever, I had also got over my distress at the loss of my stamp collection, though my heart still ached when I saw that Lojzik had now found new friends; but when he came running up to me, rather sheepishly because it was so long since wed seen each other, I said to him in a curt, grownup tone:

‘Shove off, Im finished with you. Lojzik turned red and replied:

‘All right, then. And from that time onward he hated me with a stubborn, proletarian hatred.”

“Well, that was the incident which affected my whole life. The world I lived in was, so to speak, desecrated; I lost my faith in people; I learned how to hate and despise. After that I never had a friend; and when I grew up, I began to assume that because I was by myself, I needed nobody and would show no favor to anyone. Then I discovered that nobody liked me; I used to put this down to the fact that I despised affection and was proof against all sentimentality. And so I became an aloof and purposeful man, very fussy about myself, very punctilious, the kind of person who always wants to do the right thing. I was cantankerous and harsh towards my subordinates; I did not love the woman I married; I brought up my children to fear and obey me, and by my industry and sense of duty I gained quite a reputation. Such was my life, my whole life; I attended to nothing except my duty. When my time comes, the newspapers will say what valuable work I did and what an exemplary character I had. But if people only knew how much solitude, mistrust and self-will there is about it all.

“Three years ago my wife died. I never admitted it to myself or to anybody else, but I was terribly upset; and in my distress I rummaged about among all sorts of family keepsakes which had been left by my father and mother: photographs, letters, my old school exercise books. I felt like choking when I saw how carefully my stern father had arranged and kept them: I think that, after all, he must have been fond of me. The cupboard in the attic was filled with these things, and at the bottom of a drawer was a box sealed with my fathers seals; when I opened it, I discovered the stamp collection I had put together fifty years earlier.

Im not going to keep anything back from you: 1 burst into tears and I took the box into my room like a man who has found a treasure. So thats what happened, suddenly flashed across my mind; while I was ill, somebody must have found my stamp collection and my father confiscated it, so that I would not neglect my homework. He shouldnt have done it, but it was all because of his concern and affection for me; I dont know exactly why, but I began to feel sorry for him and for myself.

“And then I remembered: so Lojzik never stole my stamps. Good heavens, how I had wronged him! Again I saw before me the freckled and messy urchin, and I wondered what had become of him and whether he was still alive. I tell you, I felt so wretched and ashamed when I looked back on it all. Because of a single false suspicion I had lost my only friend; because of that I had wasted my childhood. Because of that I had begun to despise the lower orders; because of that I had become so opinionated; because of that I never became attached to anyone. Because of that the very sight of a postage-stamp always made me feel annoyed and disgusted. Because of that I never wrote to my wife, either before or after our marriage, and I explained this away by pretending to be above what I chose to call ‘gush; and my wife felt this keenly. Because of that I was harsh and aloof. Because of that, only because of that, I had so fine a career and performed my duties in such an exemplary manner.”

“I saw my whole life afresh; suddenly it seemed a different life, was the thought that struck me. If that hadnt happened, I should have been so full of enthusiasm and dash, affection, chivalry, wit and resourcefulness, strange and unruly things of that sort– why, good heavens, I might have been almost anything else, an explorer or an actor or a soldier! Why, I might have felt some affection for my fellow men, I might have drunk with them, under-stood them, oh, theres no knowing what I mightnt have done. I felt as if ice were thawing inside me. I went through the collection, stamp by stamp; they were all there: Lombardy, Cuba, Siam, Hanover, Nicaragua, the Philippines, all the places I had wanted to go to and which now I shall never see. On each of these stamps was a scrap of something that might have been and never was. I sat brooding over them all night, taking stock of my life. I realized that it had been an artificial and impersonal life, which did not belong to me, and that my proper life had never come into being.” Mr. Karas shook his head sadly. “When I consider all I might have been, and how I wronged Lojzik–”

Father Voves, on hearing these words, looked very downcast and forlorn; most likely he had remembered something in his own life. “Mr. Karas,” he said pityingly, “dont think about it; its no use, you cant put it right now, you can¹t make a fresh start–”

“No,” sighed Mr. Karas with a slight flush. “But you know, anyhow– anyhow, I’ve started collecting stamps again.”

]]> http://www.csphilately.net/2011/08/09/the-stamp-collection-by-karl-capek/feed/ 0 http://www.csphilately.net/2011/08/09/agriculture-and-science-1923/ http://www.csphilately.net/2011/08/09/agriculture-and-science-1923/#comments Tue, 09 Aug 2011 18:45:51 +0000 csphilately http://www.csphilately.net/?p=355 Continue reading →]]> Agriculture and Science 1923
by Franti–ek Zampach, Jan Karásek, Pavel Pitterman

Before his untimely death, Franti–ek Zampach was considered the leading specialist on this issue. In this work one can see why. This 104 page, soft cover book contains a detailed study on the very interesting Agriculture and Science 1923 issue. The study begins with a discussion of the stamps’ production and then goes on to a detail consideration of the types and sub-types of the issue. In this section the author explains and illustrates how the types and sub-types came to be. Then he lays out the plate composition and location of the types and, of course, sub-types.

Details of the illustrations are blown up to supply the collector with excellent markers help the collector identify and differentiate these differences. This process is followed for each of the values and the types within those values.

The second half of the book gives a detailed description, both in words and illustrations, of the plate flaws and their repair, when repair was made. Plate where these flaws appear positions are identified, again with illustrations.

While it is true that the text is in Czech, the study is so highly illustrated that it will be very easy for even collectors who have never tried to decipher a Czech philatelic text should have little difficulty using this study. It is well worth the price.

Jaroslav Verner

Published as Trojan Catalog This 224 page, soft bound handbook published in 1997 matches in size and appearance the numerous catalogues published by Trojan. As in the case of other Trojan catalogues, it is in Czech. It appeared at a time that this reviewer was forming a Czechoslovak Air Post exhibit which gave him ample opportunity to note both the positive and negative aspects of this work.

The handbook is described in the introductory chapter as a catalogue. It is a catalogue in the sense that individual covers are point valued, where one point equals 1 Kc in 1997. But in content it far exceeds a catalogue, and should be considered a handbook. Its chapters include a good historical introduction, beginning with the hot air balloon of the Czech scientist Tedeas Hanka, which carried the first written message delivered “by air” in March of 1784. He covers development through the French Balloon Mail of the Franco-Prussian War, early balloon mail, early aviators, and Austro-Hungarian military mail. These are systematically listed in table form. He then covers early Czechoslovak military mail up to 1920 which pioneered the earliest Czechoslovak air routes. MUDr. Horka’s presentation of history without deviating excessively from philately is believed to be the strongest part of his work.

The presentation of the earliest commercial Air Post period includes much data previously unpublished. Much has been written (and argued) about the earliest flights, but Horka’s presentation is again clear and systematic. In his tables showing dates of flights with corresponding weight of mail, he includes flights to and from Warsaw, all of which occurred after the end of the first rate period — which could cause some confusion except that the author points this out in the last paragraph of the previous chapter. The 1922-1930 period is presented in great detail, showing schedules of both domestic and international flights. I have found no first flights in that period that were not listed and detailed in the handbook and would therefore venture to say that the listing is virtually complete. Interesting covers with foreign destinations are illustrated and described. The only lack of detail and clarity was observed in the listing of covers connecting to German Lufthansa flights in 1927 (p 102) where Czechoslovak routes and dates are not given. The period from 1931-1939 is again presented comprehensively, with good historic narrative, good illustrations of aircraft and clear international schedules. Main emphasis is again on the listing of First Flights and commemorative cancels. As in previous chapters, the airlines are listed. Separate chapters are devoted to commemorative flights, balloon flights, and catapult flights. The dates of all Zeppelin flights are listed, including those when foreign franking for Zeppelin flights was required (the period before the 1932 Czechoslovak treaty).

A separate chapter on crash covers and emergency landings beginning with May of 1918 gives dates, routes, airlines, pertinent notes and valuation in most cases. The last major chapter is devoted to postage rates. Shown are tables giving basic international surface rates upon which Air Post surcharges were levied. The tables of foreign surcharges are given by continent. In each, the country and time interval are given, and surcharges for letters, postcards and printed matter are listed. Pertinent notes are added as applicable.

The author admits that the handbook is not complete and is eager to accept new information from readers. That statement is true of almost any handbook and should not detract from the usefulness of the work. I highly recommend it to those of our readers who can read Czech, though the catalogue listings may also be useful to English speaking collectors. The handbook may be purchased from the Society for $15.00, postpaid, by contacting Edwin Lehecka whose address appears on page 2 in this issue.

Henry Hahn

(Specialized Catalog of Stamps and Stationary: Czech Republic 1993- 1999),
published by Merkur Revue, Brno, 2000, 160 pages.

The publishers of Merkur Revue, a Brno bi-monthly philat elic journal, have just p ublished their first catalog of stamps and postal stationary. It is a full color, highly specialized cat alog of the postal paper o f the Czech Republic. The catalog is divided into four sections: st amps; stamp booklets and commemorative stamp booklets; commemorative prints (black prints); and post cards and envelopes. The pages of each section have a distinctive color bar on the edge which makes it easy to find the part of the catalog one wishes to use. Rate tables are included at t he end of the catalog.

Entries for each stamp give the information we have come to expect in good catalogs: stamp designer/ engraver, perforation size, quantity produced, number of stamps in the sheet, and their perforation size. The catalog assigns value to the stamp for mint, used, blocks of four, strips of four, first day covers, and sheetlets in those issues where they exist. This information is followed by plate errors and the plate position of the stamp which bears them; perforat ion errors; and production errors. A value is assigned to each of these variations.

Covers of the stamp booklets are illustrated in the next section. This section also includes what are called ňspecial stamp booklets˛ which were issued to commemorate some event or activity. In these booklets the stamps usually have commemorative tabs. The layout s of the stamps in the special booklets are illustrated and all the combinations of stamps and tabs are listed, each with an assigned value.

The Commemorative Print section begins with t hose prepared by the Czech Post for inclusion in official presentation books. This is followed by a much larger number of commemorative prints the purpose of which was to publicize philat ely. For instance they were prepared for inclusion in books, for presentation to members of various philatelic organizations and so on. Co mmemorative prints issued by the Postal Museum come next and the section ends with listings of maximum cards, and commemorative pages.

The final section of the catalog begins with postal cards, both regular and commemorative, envelopes and official envelopes. The next part of this section is a listing of ňunofficial˛ imprinted postal cards categories ňA˛ and ňB.˛ Category A are cards that were imprinted and issued by Postfilia, t he philate lic arm of the Czech Post , and which were on sale in post o ffice philatelic windows and were also available thr ough the new issues service of t he post o ffice. Category B cards were imprinted by Postfilia based on orders from private organizations or individuals. They are not on sale at normal postal philatelic outlets.

The bottom line is that this catalog is a must for collectors of the new issues of the Czech Republic.

Jaroslav J Verner

By Jaroslav Verner

This is the first book published on the subject of the mail of the Czech legions in France during World War I. It is a very well researched and written study, which will fill the void on this subject for many years.

The author has taken special care to insure that the reader is able to understand this little known subject. From the establishment of the first military unit of Czech expatriates in the French Foreign Legion, Company Nazdar, in August 1914, through the creation of the Czechoslovak 5th Division in France in 1918, to the conclusion of the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919, the author examines all matters relating to the mail generated or handled by the Czech legions in France. This includes postal cancels, unit cancels, censor markings, the Czechoslovak military stamp, labels, and field post cards. Due to the close relationship between the Czech units and the Czech National Council in Paris, the author also discusses the various cancels used by the latter organization.

To aid the reader in understanding the subject, and philatelists in identifying specific markings, the author has lavishly illustrated the work with excellent drawings and color photos of all the postal markings discussed in the text. Each is cited in a text reference, which leaves the reader in no doubt about what is being discussed. Included are photos of some extremely rare postal usages and covers. The author has appended a point valuation system for each postal marking discussed in the text.

Finally, Mr. Verner uses his skills as a researcher and writer to do what few philatelic authors do, provide the complete story. His ability to weave history and philately together into a single coherent narrative is exceptional. It allows the reader to understand who the members of the Czech legions were, how they got to France, why they joined, and their importance to the establishment of an independent Czechoslovak state, placing this little-known philatelic story in context. As if to emphasize the groundbreaking importance of this work, it contains both an English and Czech text. In either language it is very well done.

Tom Cossaboom

Few collectors would dispute the technical excellence and artistic beauty of many of the stamps of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. Many international prizes have been awarded their stamp production by both philatelic and artistic organizations. This is no accident, but rather reflects the strong artistic and technical traditions of those countries. From the beginning of Czechoslovak stamp production in 1918, the country’s most talented artists were commissioned to design and produce its stamps. This tradition continues today.

Many of the best stamps produced in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic have been a combination of the talents of the artist who produced a design and of the engraver who “translated” the design into the cameo miniature we call stamps. This”translation˛ process requires extraordinary skill and patience, especially when the engraver is working on steel plates. One slip and the plate is ruined and the process must begin again.

Jan Chovanec has given an account of one of Czechoslovakia’s best and most prolific stamp engravers in his recently published book. Josef Her_Ěk was born in Uherská Brod in 1922. Just prior to World War II an arms factory was built in Brod because it was deemed necessary to move CzechoslovakiaĚs arms industry into the interior of the country and away from its threatened borders. Her_Ěk began working there in 1937 when he was just 15. According to his own account he learned both patience and precision making flawless fire arms in that factory. He also began his engraver’s training from a master engraver who engraved guns for customers who wanted them as show pieces as well as for hunting.

The first part of this book is based on conversations the author had with Her_Ěk and includes interesting insights on how the engraver mastered his art and how he became the producer of so many beautiful Czechoslovak and Czech stamps. The bulk of the book deals with the specific stamps the engraver created giving the story behind the stamp as well as the engraver’s approach to his subject. Chovanec focuses on stamps which will be familiar not only to the general collector of Czechoslovak stamps, but also to the thematic collector, since most of the stamps covered have either an artistic or historical subject or, in many cases, both.This is a short book written in good English, and extensively illustrated. It will certainly prove of interest and useful to all collectors of modern Czechoslovak stamps. THE STORY OF JOSEF HER_ĚK’S POSTAGE STAMPS is available for $6.00 post paid through the Society’s book sales program.

(Manual for Hradcany Collectors),
by Frantiŕek Hamr and Ji_Ě Čkaloud, Svaz _eskách filatelistu ve spoluprěci s _eskou poŕtou
(Union of Czech Philatelists and the Czech Post, PragueŰ1998)

None of our readers need be told that the Hradcany series is comprised of the first stamps issued by Czechoslovakia. Nor do they have to be told that it is a long series much beloved by collectors of Czechoslovak stamps everywhere. In fact this series was recently the subject of an exhibit in Japan. Nor do they need to be told that it is a series much studied because of its interesting variations in paper, color, perforations, plate flaws, damaged and repaired plates as well as interesting usages. This issue has also been the subject of several good monographs and handĄbooks. So why do we need another one, you ask.

Whether another handbook is needed can be debated. Probably not for the average collector, but for the advanced collector interested in Hrad_any there is never enough information. Hamr and Čkaloud have made a useful contribution to the study and collecting of the Hradcany series. They have taken this large subject and organized it into two main sections, each with 17 sub sections. The first section is the basic information on the stamps, their design, printing, paper, colors, perforations, unissued stamps, counterfeits, uses, stationary, covers, perfins, cancellations, statistics, postal rates, and references. The second half is just as detailed, but here the authors deal with pricing these stamps in all their variations.

The book extensively illustrates the main retouches (repairs), joined types and the currently much in vogue, column types. These illustrations show the specific stamps by plate position and describe their differences in detail. Another aid to the collector are the detailed tables covering the many variations considered. The cancellation types used on Hrad_any stamps are also fully illustrated. Especially useful to me are the illustrations of the postal stationery bearing the Hrad_any stamps.

Unfortunately the text is in Czech. There is a useful summary in English and German, but in my view it is much to short. Nevertheless, this handbook will be useful even to the non-Czech speaker because of the tables and illustrations. And with the help of the SocietyĚs Glossary of Philatelic Terminology even the more detailed texts should be manageable.

The authors promise a similar companion volume which will cover the Hrad_any stamps with over prints, like the first air mail series, postage dues, and stamps used in the plebiscite territories. This companion handbook is scheduled to be available in time for the Brno 2000 exhibition.

Jaroslav J Verner

This thin book is the first volume of an extend study of Czechoslovak stamps printed by recess printing from flat plates. Various printing techniques are described in the short first part of the volume under the title “Technical Introduction.” The study of the stamps and sheetlets from 1945 to 1953 follow. Any plate flaws and/or anomalies are carefully marked on blown up reproductions of the stamps and highlighted with a yellow spot. The plate position of stamps bearing these flaws are noted. This study is extremely detailed and will be of special interest to collectors specializing in post-WW II Czechoslovak stamps.

Recess Printing of Stamp and Sheetlets from Flat Plates, Vol. I, 1945 – 1953 to the Monetary Reform is a very well produced book, printed on high quality glossy paper under hard covers. The reproductions are sharp and plentiful. The copies are numbered and a black print (20 K of the Lazne series) produced by the Czech Post is included. This study was published by the Society of Collectors of Czechoslovak Postage Stamps, Union of Czech Philatelists. Though there is considerable text in certain areas, the visual presentation of the material makes the study useful even to collectors who do not know Czech.