Evening star., 1937-04-04
BY JAMES WALDO FAWCETT.

BY JAMES WALDO FAWCETT.
Perhaps the most notable philatelic
event of the past week was that of the
publication of the revised and enlarged
edition of The United States Post
age Stamps of the Twentieth Gen.
tury Volume One, 1901-1922," by
Max g. Johl and the late Beverly S.
King.
Admittedly the supreme classic in
its field, this book is an imperative
necessity to students of the issues of
the period with which it deals. 1t first
appeared in November, 1882, but the
printing soon was exhausted. Now,
corrected and amended it again be-
comes available in response to an in
sistent demand from the collectors OF
the Nation The publisher is H. L.
Lindquist.
Mr.. Johl in his foreWord explains
his procedure following the untimely
death of his colleague. Almost every
paragraph" he says, "has been en-
tirely rewritten, and nearly 800 new
illustrations have been added" The
result is, in effect, an encyclopedia,
Every conceivable fact concerning the
production and distribution of all the
domestic stamps of the two earliest
decades of the century is comprehen-
volume embraces every issue from the
Pan-American series of 1901 to the
Pilgrim series of 1920 plus the sue
cessive printings of the standard
Washington-Franklin types from 1908
to 1922. All shades, varieties and
plates are listed and described The
text throughout is frightened by fas-
cinating anecdotal material, half
tones and line drawings.
Wide circulation of the book should
promote new era in the American
aspect of philatelic scholarship. 1t
is both a work of art and a work of
science in the best meaning of the
phrase.
C. Robert Kay, philatelic editor Of
the Associated Press. writes from New
York: collectors of bureau-prints, a
term used to designate stamps pre-
Cancelled by the Bureau of Engraving
and Printing, are burning the mid
night oil studying minor differences IN
their stamps with a view to future
profit.
Recent discovery of Type 2 of the
ordinary current 2-cent stamp pre-
sented the problem of how many of
these were pre-canceled by the Gov
ernment.
wv. B. Hoover of Hoover Bros,
publishers of the standard pre-cancel
catalogue, estimates that only one
bureau-print on Type 2 stamp is
found in million and half ordinary
2-cent stamps inspected, indicating
extreme rarity
Search so far has revealed Kansas
City, Cincinnati, Hartford and Mem
phis bureau-prints on the Type 2
perforated stamps and Boston and
Detroit bureau-prints on the Type 2
coil stamps.
"A much wider range of study for
bureau-print collectors is offered by
the minor differences in imprints
made by hand-set type, used by the
bureau prior to 1888, and the ma
chine-set type now being used.
The machine-set bureau-prints re-
veal a longer middle horizontal line
in the letter e. also the letter j. in
the machine-set type has distinct
tail or upward curve to the right.
whereas the hand-set j. has no tall
at all
But these differences are of no
value in determining the types CT
such cities as Brooklyn, in which
neither of these letters appear The
infallible method is by measurement.
The machine-set type is smaller than
the hand-set, and the city name por-
ton is farther from the top line of
the imprint.
Mr.. Hoover says these differences
should not be ignored by bureau
print collectors, because they un-
doubtedly will have an effect on in
vestment values He cites one of the
rarest of the new or standard type
bureau-prints, Kingsport, Tenn, as
an example The Kingsport is rare
because huge quantities were destroyed
by the Government when the need for
the pre-cancels ceased
"A new precancel permit might be
issued at Kingsport, resulting in
new printing of the scarce type and
destroying the value of those already
in existence, if it were not for the
type differences. But if a new permit
were issued now, Mr.. Hoover explains,
the bureau prints would be printed
with machine-set type, whereas the