Fundy Stamp Collectors Club

The Fundy Stamp News
Issue No. 25 November 2010
Published by
Fundy Stamp Collectors Club

When I came across this book at a used book shop in Halifax, I immediately sensed that this book was certainly a rare find. Indeed, printed in 1920 by Cambridge University Press, this book has all the credentials of a thorough and concise history of the colonial period that few philatelists have information about.

The author, William Smith, was secretary of the Post Office Department of Canada. Although little is mentioned on the background of this author, one can summarize that he was well educated and connected given that this book was published by a very prestigious university press. This book is well documented and written in a style that reads well.

The book consists of 20 chapters which detail the beginnings and the development of the postal service in Upper and Lower Canada. The author is very thorough and does not overlook the colonial discontents, disputes, grievances and abuses between the various administrations. I particularly liked the chapters dealing with the postal services in the Maritimes including Newfoundland. Many chapters describe the transportation aspect of the postal delivery service such as the early packet service, the ocean steamship service, the Canadian ocean mail service and the railway mail service.

The material for this book is very extensive and was found in the records of the general post office of London, the British Museum and the Boston Public Library. In regards to the history of the post office in the provinces, material was found in the Public Archives of Canada and the Journals of the Provincial Legislatures.

The objective of William Smith was to provide a description of the relations between colonial postal system and the general post office in London. His wide searches for the material presented in this book ensure the reader a complete account of the beginnings and the development of the Canadian post office. Although written over 90 years ago, this book remains an important source for the postal historians and those who want to have in-depth knowledge of the colonial period. If you find a copy of this book, hang on to it, it catalogues at over $200.00.

Feature Article

Without Great Expectations:
One Collector's Odyssey
By Micheal O Nowlan
Oromocto NB

When I was a kid, I collected stamps many of which came from the attic at the old farm house where I grew up. It was fun, but all those stamps came off the envelopes, were soaked, and mounted with hinges. In reflection today, some of those envelopes could well have been worth a coin or two in today's market. All that, of course, was before I knew about covers or even that envelopes were called covers. I was a collector of the tiny adhesives and I was proud of it.

My journey through the realm of collecting stamps commenced in that attic without any great expectations, but it would be years before my pathways led to anything more than an accumulation of the small papers used to send mail. Accumulate, though, I did in vast numbers. I even had a pen pal in Newfoundland with whom I swapped stamps before Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949. My Canadians went to the rock while his Newfies came to Canada.

When I first 'met' Douglas Patrick through the CBC Stamp Club every Saturday, I was delighted. I had a mentor on whom I depended to provide me with key information about stamps, and it was Douglas Patrick's special offers, usually for a dime, that helped me advance from a mere novice.

It was not until the 1980s, however, that this odyssey began to amass a kind of folk tale that today is sometimes difficult to comprehend. During the peak of my work-life and child-rearing years, stamps were never far from my interest. I saved every stamp that came into the house. In boxes, mind you, but I saved them because I knew the love affair that commenced in the farm-house attic would some day be rekindled. Little did I know it would be almost like a volcanic eruption. Yes, I had children and each had an album, two of which I have inherited as memories of their childhood. None of the five, however, took seriously to the mystique that stamp collecting still offers some youngsters.

During the latter part of the 1980s, I started planning retirement and my choices. Prime among them was getting back to my boxes of stamps, and, most importantly, updating my Canada used albums whose pages were several years in default. It also meant getting back to the stamp-collecting community. You know the things like auction mailing lists, a subscription to Canadian Stamp News, renewal of my membership in the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada to which I had belonged for a brief period in the 1960s, and, of course, sorting those boxes of accumulations of stamps. I was set, I thought; ready to launch anew into the hobby that afforded me much fun and quality time as a child and youth.

But I really was not ready! I got a suggestion that I write about stamps. Having been a freelance writer for a couple of decades, this did not disturb me. About the same time, Canadian Stamp News advertised for writers. I had just finished a 15-year stint of writing about books for The Atlantic Advocate which folded in January 1992. I responded to the CSN advertisement, and then editor Ellen Rodger took me up on my idea to do a column on philatelic literature. After 215 consecutive monthly columns, "Philatelic Bookshelf" is a regular feature in CSN and one that has enabled me to amass an incredible library. As well, I have published hundreds of items on stamps in the philatelic and non-philatelic press in Canada, the United States, and Great Britain.