See also Guides for:
Stamp perforation varieties have become a popular area to collect, however, copies of the 2006 book Stamp Perforation: The Somerset House Years — 1848 to 1880 are increasingly difficult to find.
The Royal Philatelic Society London, along with the authors, are delighted to provide a large section of this book as a PDF download, free to collectors, together with some additional downloads. The intention is to generate feedback from as many collectors as possible so that the authors can provide a comprehensive update in due course.
Click here to view the details and download.
This book, written by John Wilson and Frank Walton RDP FRPSL, is a fascinating account of how the USA and UK co-operated during World War II to run a censorship and intelligence-gathering operation on mail travelling between the Axis countries in Europe and countries in Latin America with pro-Axis sympathies. Pan American Airways took the place of the Italian-owned LATI (Linee Aeree Transcontinentali Italiane) transatlantic airmail delivery service, which had started in 1939 but was terminated by the USA following that country’s entry into the war in December 1941. The allied censorship operation was based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and has not been the subject of study hitherto. This lavishly illustrated book tells the story of the airmail routes and the censorship process that were developed. The authors used a combination of archival materials and relevant covers to tell its amazing story.
The book was originally published in December 2020. This 312-page book is sold out in hardcopy, but digital copies are available for download FREE to Members and £20 to non-members. To order a copy, click here.