Confederate States of America Catalog and Handbook of Stamps and Postal History
Confederate States of America Catalog and Handbook of Stamps and Postal History. Edited by Patricia A. Kaufmann, Francis J. Crown, Jr., and Jerry S. Palazolo. 536 pages with thousands of illustrations (most full-color); more than 10,000 priced valuations; 11 x 8 x 1.5 inch format. Published by the Confederate Stamp Alliance (known as the Civil War Philatelic Society, as of 2020), 2012. Standard edition, ISBN 978-0-98-18893-1-3. Out of print and available only on the second-hand market through philatelic literature and Confederate postal history dealers.
Reviewer: Trish Kaufmann
[email protected]
APRL Locator: 3 copies: [IP 000041493] [IP000041175] [IP000071535]
The 2012 CSA Catalog is the successor to the Dietz catalog series, but is by no means a simple revision. All sections are a major expansion of anything previously published. General issues and postmasters’ provisional listings are cross-referenced with the Scott catalog numbering system. The provisionals section is more than four times the size of its 1986 predecessor, including earliest recorded dates of use. Much material can be found in no other catalog nor publication, including statistics, varieties, shades, and uses on cover. There are detailed sections on private perforations, essays and proofs, unofficial printings, misplaced and shifted transfers, atypical cancels, Confederate Army camp markings, a small section on fakes, and more. About 20% of the catalog is devoted to stamps, the balance to postal history. Catalog groundwork has been laid for future generations with a digital image and information database maintained by the Civil War Philatelic Society at civilwarphilatelicsociety.org. A new approach was taken, building contents from the ground up. Every listing is verified by an image or, if retained as a legacy listing, is indicated with an asterisk. The Confederate stampless cover listings are a major section, augmented by a completely revamped section on government and state imprints, patriotics, express mail, flag-of-truce mail, and countless new sections beyond the Dietz editions. New catalog sections include Confederate Mail Carrier Services, Way Mail, Indian Nations, Covert Mail, Generals’ Mail, Advertising Covers, a Glossary and new revelations about the Arizona Territory and New Mexico. Other sections, while presented briefly in former catalogs, have been expanded to such a degree that they can almost be considered new sections as well. For example, the Confederate Railroad Markings section fully explains the role of railroads in handling the mails, the role of the station agent and the route agent’s markings, as well as the revised listings themselves. Private Express Company Mail is divided into two different categories: private across-the-lines express service and mail handled by express companies within the Confederate States. Suspension of Mail across the Lines includes some of the rarest and least understood mail as postal service in the seceded states was interrupted by the U.S. Post Office Department. Trans-Mississippi Mails presents both official and private mail services, some of which are completely new listings. The lead editorial team was augmented with extensive input and the assistance of dozens of Confederate students who contributed to their areas of specialty, without which this catalog might never have come to print.