Stamp Booklets

Booklets of stamps were first considered as long ago as November 1878 when the British Board of Inland Revenue commissioned De La Rue to produce an experimental booklet containing four panes of 1d revenue stamps. These were secured, in an ingenious manner, by means of white cotton threaded through the perforations between the upper and lower rows of stamps. The booklet’s cover was printed in lilac and bore the royal coat of arms together with the price – 2s and half penny – the additional half penny defraying the cost of production.

Although actual examples were submitted to the Board, the idea was never implemented. It was not until 1904 that Britain introduced booklets of postage stamps, although permission was given in 1891 to a private syndicate to do so, the cost of production in this case being defrayed by commercial advertising on the covers.

The next country to issue postage stamps in booklets was Luxembourg, in 1895. Other countries quickly adopted the idea. The first British booklets were priced at 2s and a half penny – the additional half penny again covering production costs. This was a source of irritation to the public and made accounting more difficult, so in 1906 the price was lowered to 2s but one less half penny stamp was included and a label bearing a green saltire of St Andrew’s cross took up its place in the booklet pane. In August 1911, when booklets containing King George V stamps were issued, the half penny charge was dropped. Purely commercial advertising was introduced in 1909 and since 1968 British booklets have had pictorial covers, the designs being issued in thematic sets which changed every few months.

Another British innovation has been the sponsored booklet, in which all the advertising matter has pertained to one sponsor. This was tried experimentally in February 1959, a 2s booklet being sponsored by the Bacon Information Council and including bacon recipes. This was revived in December 1969 for a one-pound booklet entitled Stamps for Cooks, and containing twelve recipes on gummed labels attached to the panes of stamps. On 24 May 1972, a one-pound booklet was issued telling the story of the famous pottery Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. The interleaves were printed in full colour and showed examples of Wedgwood ware. A second booklet, containing three pounds worth of stamps, was issued in January 1980 to mark the 250^th anniversary of the company. Since November 1978 Britain has also issued Christmas Greetings booklets, containing se-tenant strips of the first and second-class letter rate stamps, intended as Christmas gifts.