1953 – Wilson, Sir John: The Royal Philatelic Collection (1952). Format 37 x 26 cm, 568 pages, 12 colour plates, a further 60 monochrome plates, bound in red Nigerian Morocco leather with title, author's name and roses on spine, King's crest on front, pages gilt-edged at top, slipcase. The book is is excellent condition, but the slipcase has the usual defects (here on one side at the top, easy to repair). Included is also the official “Prospectus” (announcement of Dropmore Press) for this book (16 pages, same format as the book, softcover).
The valuable book (the production cost more than £ 100,000!) was published by Lord Kemsley's Dropmore press in 1952 and at that time was priced at £63 per copy. 2,000 copies were printed, but only 1,000 sold (250 copies to libraries, 750 to private collectors). 1955 the Dropmore Press ran into financial difficulties and closed, the rest of the remaining unbound printed sheets were acquired by Stamp Collecting Ltd. and offered in 1963 in five special boxes (250 copies each, section 1: Great Britain, section 2: British America, Section 3: British Africa, Section 4: British Asia and Section 5: British Australasia), the remaining approx. 700 sets of the unfolded printed pages were destroyed. A set of these 5 Sets is much rarer than the bound book, which is nevertheless an iconic publication of British philately. Estimate: 1,000 Euro
(This item is a large box. See the PDF for more details. -> Information on shipping for the literature auction)
