ISBN 978-1-913015-11-4

Since embarking on this study in 2011, I have been asked a number of questions about what I’m doing and why. Put simply, the King George V postal envelopes have been a little-known area for Ceylon Postal Stationery collectors. The Registered Envelopes, printed by De La Rue, are recorded in the De La Rue Archives, but the postal envelopes, all printed in Ceylon, are recorded nowhere. In 2012, Kurt Kimmel and I carried out some philatelic research in Colombo, amongst other things, looking for any surviving details about the printing of this stationery. There are no surviving records, therefore dates of issue, numbers issued, numbers of proofs and colour trials etc, are simply unknown. Regarding varieties, I have gathered together as much information as possible, but as will be seen, this is very limited. A further reason for concentrating on the postal envelopes in more recent times, is that Chandra Rodrigo never completed his ‘Postal Stationery Envelopes’ catalogue… part three of his series*. Other King George V postal stationery from Ceylon is included in Chandra’s part two catalogue… “Postal Cards; Letter Cards; Letter Sheets & Wrappers”, and further study of Ceylon Wrappers has been published by Jan Kosniowski in his world-wide compendium. This monograph therefore perhaps fills something of a ‘void’. I will be interested to see if anyone can add to the story.
 

Graham is a retired history teacher. He is Chairman of the Ceylon Study Circle, and since 1990, a Regional Representative of the Royal Philatelic Society for the North of England. This is his third book about Ceylon philatelic subjects, previously having written about CAVE overprints and the Company which produced them; and POSTAL COMMISSION surcharges (a Revenue subject). As well as the books, Graham has written many articles about his varied philatelic interests. These interests include: King George VI Great Britain; Yorkshire Postal History; Silk Post Cards; Comic Post Cards; Golf; Education and Goats. He has been awarded Large Gold medals for Postal History; Postal Stationery; Open Philately; Post Cards and Ephemera, and has given seminars on various “thematic” subjects. Graham is a member of the National Judging Team, qualified to judge most classes, and is an International Judge for Open Philately and Post Cards. Until recently he was Chairman of ABPS…he remains on the general committee. Finally, he has been a UK Commissioner at several National and International events, a task he will undertake again in Essen at IBRA 2023. 

Foreword, Preface and Acknowledgements
Chapter 1—The Proofs and Printing 1911–19
Chapter 2—The First and Second Issues 1912 and 1915
Chapter 3—Third Issue; Post-War Colour Changes and First “Provisionals” 1918–19
Chapter 4—The Fourth Issue 1921
Chapter 5—The First Surcharged Provisional Issues 1922–24
Chapter 6—The Fifth Issue 1923–25
Chapter 7—Rate-Reduction Surcharges 1926–29
Chapter 8— Three Languages Die II Value Tablets and the Purple Colours 1927–29
Chapter 9— The Dark Carmine-Rose Colour 1929–35
Appendices