Some of philately's most interesting and sought after varieties have been produced at times of changes in the production and postal processes. Penny blacks were originally cancelled in black and then in red; penny black plates were later used to print penny reds; and the list of varieties carries on and on. The same is true of booklets of stamps. What is astonishing is that after years of intense study further varieties are still being discovered.

The following three items are varieties in the writer's collection which occurred at times of intentional change in the production of the booklets. The common theme between them is that the varieties all result from Post Office economic measures to either reduce the cost of production or use up surplus materials. As far as is known the first two have never been reported and the third was reported in GBJ Vol 41 No. 1 Jan 2003 and is now catalogued by Stanley Gibbons as F14a.

BB9 edition 61

Since their inception in 1904 stamp booklets were bound with two wire staples. The shortage of steel during the First World War lead to the sewing of the booklets with thread instead.

A trial of booklet 57 is known stitched and with stamps overprinted 'CANCELLED' and it is generally acknowledged that the introduction of stitched booklets commenced with edition 62. After the trials were deemed successful there was a change over period when booklets were manufactured in both stapled and stitched formats presumably whilst the specialist sewing machines were ordered and commissioned. Newbery and Alexander and SG part 2 (and some others) note that editions 62 to 65 come in both formats. Figure 1 illustrates edition 61 in both a stapled and stitched format. The stitched example came from an accumulation put away soon after issue. Edition 61 is now the earliest known production stitched booklet. Do earlier editions exist?

2/6 booklet series 7 edition 8

Gibbons GB part 2 (and Concise) and Alexander & Newbery British Stamp Booklets Part 5. record edition 8 as the first 2/6 booklet with blue cartridge paper covers (SG BD14). An example has recently been found of this same edition 8 with a red cover as per SG BD13. The booklet came from yet another old accumulation of stamps and booklets which was possibly untouched since purchase from the post office.

Alexander and Newbery write in the introduction to Series 7 of British Stamp Booklets that in order to avoid a waste of cover paper, with a value of £650, surplus red and blue cover card from the 3s and 2s booklets from the discontinued 2/- and 3/- booklets was instructed to be used before moving on to the green cover card. Seven red editions were issued numbered 1 to 7 followed by editions 8 to 13 in blue.

The red booklet has been printed in the usual black ink as for editions 1 to 7 whereas the blue booklet has been printed in the usual dark blue ink of editions 8 to 13 indicating that both printings of edition 8 were intentional. It is likely that a very small number of red cover booklets were produced before stock ran out and the switch was made to blue card. The interleaves are identical in both versions. The postage rate notice is dated August 1940.

2/6 Booklet March 1954

The 'shorthand' pane (fig 3) was used in booklets F12 dated January 1954 and F13 dated February 1954. In March 1954 booklet F15 was issued containing the new Queen Elizabeth 1d 'Minimum' pane, but some examples of that date were produced which used up old supplies of the George vi 1d pane with PPR advertisement 17mm high last used in booklet F11 dated December 1953. A recently discovered booklet contained the shorthand pane and showed that this stock was also used up prior to the introduction of the QE2 Wilding 1d panes in the March 1954 edition. It has now been catalogued by Stanley Gibbons as F14a.

As an example of a booklet type, none of these items are rare. In the particular edition number they occur in, they are extremely rare if not unique. These three booklets have all been found by one collector within the last 3 years. Statistically that must indicate that there are other discoveries waiting to be made. Do you have any new varieties to report?

Illustrations
Fig 1 - Booklet BB9 edition 61 in both stapled and stitched versions
Fig 2 - BD13 edition 8 in red (unrecorded) and BD14 edition 8 in blue
Fig 3 - George vi 'Shorthand', 'Minimum' (17mm) and QEII 'Minimum' 1d label panes that all appeared in the March 1954 2/6 booklet