Der Philatelistische Literatursammler February 1933, Volume 2, Issue 2 DER PHILATELISTISCHE LITERATURSAMMLER,

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1 Philat. Trans. 400 Der Philatelistische Literatursammler February 1933, Volume 2, Issue 2 Translation Digest Translation produced by Betty Howarth for Brian J. Birch 33 Boar s Head Avenue, Standish, Wigan, WN6 0BH, UK February DER PHILATELISTISCHE LITERATURSAMMLER, February 1933, Volume 2, Issue 2 Translation Digest Note: A Translation Digest provides a translation of the article titles and general headings for a complete issue of a specialised bibliographic periodical and includes full translations of all articles of permanent interest to bibliophiles. p.7 The Aerophilatelic Journals. Dr. Robert Paganini, Zweisimmen, Switzerland 20 years ago, assuming that the then embryonic air mail was bound to increase in importance, I undertook to make a systematic collection of the relevant documentary material. I was inspired by the thought of preserving from the beginning, for future generations, the evidence of a cultural phenomenon of such importance for commerce. The material now amounts to about 1,250 books, pamphlets, advertising leaflets, collections of extracts, etc., and forms a Historical Collection on Air Mail. This is probably the only archive on air mail in the whole world and I have given it to my homeland: it has been presented to the Swiss Postal Museum in Berne, and will be carried on by me. The archive makes it possible to follow and understand the historical development of air mail in all its phases. I shall now give a listing of the aerophilatelic magazines that have been issued to date. I believe the list is complete. I ask the world of readers to be kind enough to inform me of any omissions or additions, so that the material can possibly be made accessible in the Air Mail Archive. The independent aerophilatelic press first began in Earlier articles relating to air mail had to be found in the various publications of the general philatelic societies. It took years

2 before they began to adopt the term Air Mail, for the most part not until countries began to issue stamps exclusively for airmail. What are called the precursors were, I feel safe in saying, something handed down from above: indeed the collection of these covers is looked on as ridiculous. The first expressly aerophilatelic magazine, the Airplane Stamp News was started up by A. C. Roessler, Newark (U.S.A.) in November 1918*. It was not a scientific journal as we would so much wish it to have seen, but along with offers, it published an uncommonly large number of articles, most of them original. Roessler earned himself a reputation amongst aerophilatelists by setting up pioneering flights under very generous conditions. The magazine still appears unchanged today, though in the years of poor trade it had to take on rudimentary forms. * It should be mentioned here that an illustrated magazine appeared in Germany in the year 1917, that arose from war psychosis to represent the Luftwaffe. This was also the title of the magazine. I mention this because when the war ended in 1918 it took the title Luftpost, and made an attempt to deal with our subject. However this name, which was inadequate for the contents, must have been very soon changed. The magazine has been called Luftweg [Airway] since In 1922 Eugen Klein started his Air Mail in Philadelphia, but only two issues appeared. The airmail societies then began their own journals. We can only admire the hard and unselfish work that the editors put into them, e.g.: 1923 George W. Augers, with the Aero Newsletters, of the Aero Philatelic Society of America. A new series began in 1926 under the shorted title Aero News: the last number appeared in September The later publications of this Society, which had meanwhile changed its name to the American Air Mail Society, appeared in the Weekly Philatelic Gossip, a general-interest philatelic magazine Georg H. Jaeger, with Air Post Stamp, from the Association Internationale des Aerophilatélistes. This society collapsed a long time ago, as most of its members ceased to pay their subscriptions. The actual magazine only published a few numbers, changed its name repeatedly in later years, and vanished entirely in Publications from dealers and collectors will be given chronologically. I will come back to these later, and for the moment will complete the list of periodicals from aerophilatelic societies. Editors and titles are: 1924 Brigadier General R. Ridgway, Notes of the Month, from the Aero Philatelic Club of London Stephen H. Smith, Monthly Bulletin of the Aero Philatelic Club of India, which later changed its name to the Indian Air Mail Society R. Plechoyano (died 1931), Aviette Postale from the Association Amicale 2

3 Aérophilatélique. This later combined with the Union Aérophilatélique de France, but the magazine retained its name G. A. G. Thoolen, L Internationale Revue Aérophilatélique, from the Ligue Internationale Aérophilatélique. This first appeared as a supplement to the Nederlandsche Filatelist, then appeared independently, with the title varying between Bulletin and Revue L. B. Gatchell, Special Advance Air Mail Information Bulletin from the American Air Mail Society Henry O. Meisel, the Bulletin of the American Flying Mail Association Geo. D. Kingdom, the Airpost Journal founded in 1929 by H. York, which had passed into the ownership of the American Air Mail Society Harold Applebaum, The Landing Field, from the Aerophilatelic Club of New York Leo August, Sky-writing from the Newark Aero Philatelic Society. Conclusion follows pp.7-8 The literature of Memel philately. Survey by Ing. E. Becker, Anklam Part 2 Supplementary or contradictory research results to the above monograph have been given in the journal concerned. The strict journal sequence however has one drawback: it prevents a comparative treatment of the literature, which would give readers and collectors a much better guide to their reading. Anybody going deeply into the handbook literature is however doubtless also a specialist collector of stamps and postal stationery. However, people tend to read the journals they posses themselves, without trying to read systematically. It is quite obvious that the articles in magazines as far as their sequence goes, - show only a random picture far removed from the valuable systematic arrangement that we expect from handbooks and specialised catalogues. Thus, anyone wishing to find out about the entire literature of a subject has two methods: buying or borrowing; the first one is often undertaken with negative results - especially as regards the older literature and so his only way of getting information is to borrow the magazine he needs. But where can he look? We will not give detailed instructions about this here. On the whole there are only three possibilities, namely borrowing from a private collection, borrowing from the library of the local society which is where it usually stops and finally, yes finally? There are now places which will lend literature by post, namely the large official reference libraries in Berlin, Leipzig and many other big towns. However, one may still come up against obstacles, or be told that the issues for volume 10 cannot be made available. We may say in conclusion that a complete collection of literature relating to Memel can still be built up, since people interested in this topic were careful and forward-looking. 3

4 Now back to the Postmarke-Sammlerwoche! Airmail forgeries 1 by G. Becker Dortmund, 1925 N o 19. Papers by this author on this subject can be found in Briefmarken-Rundschau (Oettingen) and Die Welt-Korrespondenz, the organ of the international society Weko, 1925/26. Memel district forgeries, by A. Ebel, 1925 N o 31/32: an exhaustive treatment in a few lines, and an almost unobjectionable performance. A few words on Memel stamps, by A. Ebel, 1926 N o 15. this short article met with less good fortune than the other. For one thing it was held up for a year or more before being put before the readers. When it appeared the catalogue number given was reassigned, and though the contents were all right, the printing left much to be desired. The Sammlerwoche-Postmarke [sic], then had about 2 years of quiet, so to speak. The next thing to appear was a really definitive monograph on German local cancellations of the Memel region, by Ing. E. Becker*. Its immediate predecessors were not so exhaustive in their treatment, but were in line with the stage of development of their own period and were able to meet the requirements of collectors for the time being. They were: a) Cancellations of the Memel region by Supreme Court Justice Dahmann, in Deutscher Sammler-Zeitung 1924 N o 2 b) Sammlerwoche 1925 N o 6 (see original) The monograph began to appear in Sammlerwoche 1928 N os 19 and 21 plus supplements to N o 12/1929; Postmarke 1928 N o 177 and 179, plus supplement to N o 194 of For the continuation of this study, under the title German railway cancellations of the Memel region, see later under Filatelia or Offprints. * A new and extended edition began to appear on the 22 nd December 1932 in Memel Rundschau, N o 5. There followed in Sammlerwoche papers by H. Dietrich, W. Rotte and E. Becker: News from Memel by W. Rotte, Wiesbaden, 1931 N o 11 (241), with the sections: I. Memel Airmail, 1 st edition (p.131) II. Memel machine cancellation N o 56 1 (p.131) III Memel region postal instruction (surcharged values) IV Memel forgeries (p.132). Are there forged Memel cancellations by H. Dietrich, 1932 N o 3 (postage stamp 257) Two forged Memel cancellations and some others by Ing. E. Becker 1932 N o 10 (264) (p.117) This covers the work in Sammlerwoche, Vienna to the present day (November 1932) Efforts have been made in the supplement Der Sammlerfreund by Otto E. Stiedl of Vienna to deal with the question of forgeries of the Memel Airmails by publishing comparison pictures. Otto E. Stiedl in Sammlerfreund 1931 N o 9, p.31 & 1932 N o 10, p.46. Conclusion follows 4

5 p.8 Review. pp.8-9 Newly published philatelic literature. p.9 Society of the Friends of Philatelic Literature. Association for the study and advancement of philatelic literature. Annual Subscription 3 RM, including magazine. To P.O. Box Hamburg N o (Carl Schmittdiel) Subscribers can buy bibliographic works at reduced prices. The following new members have been accepted. 32. Chief Secretary E. Kleinknecht, Lorch (Wurttemberg) 33. Public Surveyor Alfred Luce, Eschborn (Taunus) 34. Karl Bald, Frankfurt am Main 35. Verein für Briefmarkenkunde, Frankfurt am Main 36. Dr. Emilio Diena, Rome 37. Chief Inspector Franz Hess, Ludwigslust 38. Nils Strandell, Stockholm 39. Carlo Buerose, Frankfurt am Main 40. Alfr. Gundelfinger, Frankfurt am Main 41. Fritz Borger, Vienna 42. H. Starost, Rothenburg (Oder) Lovers of literature wishing to know more about our Society should contact C. Schmittdiel, 45 Tornquiststrasse, Hamburg 19. pp.9-10 Literature review. Under this heading appear only the journals sent in regularly to the Editorial Board. The abbreviations used are taken as far as possible from the Deutsche Philatelistische Jahrbuch. New abbreviations not given in this Yearbook and used here for the first time will be taken as definitive for new editions of the Yearbook. The Editors have received the following journals: (See the original for this list.) Survey of Contents. Compiled by Becker, Korner, Michaelis, Preuss, Schmittdiel. 5

6 The abbreviations for the journals are as used in the Review. The first number gives the year, the second the part, and the third the page number of the journal concerned. p.9 Catalogues and pricelists. END 6