MIDDLE EAST - Stanley Gibbons Middle East;2009

Published by Stanley Gibbons Ltd. 416pp. Colour. English

Inc Abu Dhabi, Aden, Ajman, Bahrain, Dubai, Egypt, Fujeira, Gaza, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Muscat, Oman, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Ras al Khaima, Saudi Arabia, Sharjah and dependencies, South Arabia, Syria, Trucial States, Umm al Qiwain, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, British postal agencies in Eastern Arabia, major errors and perforation, watermark, and shade varieties, overprints, miniature sheets, booklets, stamps on cover, officials, post offices abroad, design index, English/French/German/Spanish/Italian/Arabic glossary;;;;

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Philatelic Exporter review, courtesy of David Rennie (October 2009):

Thirty-two additional catalogue pages since the last edition published in 2005 (see Exporter August 2005), represent both the new issues of the countries included in this volume, and also four new design indexes, for Egypt, Jordan, Oman and Syria. Those of Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have of course been revised to include new issues.

Latest dates vary considerably with Qatar up to March 2009, Israel up to February 2009, most others are varying dates in 2008, but Iraq, Oman and Yemen only to the last issues in 2007.

The catalogue is now virtually full colour with only a few black and white illustrations to be updated.; It is in the three-column, A4 format as before.; Booklets are included where issued, and so too are the Israel Machine Labels, but these are not priced.

Major editorial improvements include more postal history information, including priced listings of British stamps used in Egypt, Indian stamps used in Bahrain and Iraq, and other illustrated notes as necessary.

Following extensive research and suggestions from leading philatelists, 30 new varieties have been added to Egypt, 45 to Iraq in the 1970-1990s period, and 25 in Saudi Arabia.; The new numbers are listed on the publisher's editorial page, along with others in Bahrain, Palestine etc.; Some numbers have been changed and a few in Egypt deleted.

Prices have of course moved on, and the publisher mentions significant increases in areas such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Iraq, Oman and Qatar.

The International Philatelic Glossary has been extended by the inclusion of an Arabic/English adjacent column listing, a feature I cannot recall seeing in any other catalogue.

Although Michel did an English version of their Gulf States catalogue some years ago, (see Exporter February 2006) the SG Middle East covers a much greater area and is the only English catalogue to comprehensively cover these issues. With 416 catalogue pages this large format paperback is good value, especially if the cost is amortised over another four years before the next edition.