KGV - Stanley Gibbons King George V Commonwealth 2010

Published by Stanley Gibbons. 475pp. Colour. English

Inc Great Britain, stamps on cover, booklets, postage dues, officials, omnibus issues, printing and watermark errors, major watermark and printing varieties, English/French/German/Spanish/Italian glossary

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Philatelic Exporter review, courtesy of David Rennie (August 2010):

2010 has been a good year for King George V: the Centenary of his accession to the throne, the 75^th Anniversary of the 1935 Silver Jubilee issue, and the continuing exhibition celebrating the "collector King" as part of the 2010 Festival of Stamps.

This catalogue is therefore both timely, and unique.; It contains the full colour catalogue listings as taken from the "red book" (or Part 1 as the publisher prefers to call it,), including issues or distinctive printings made after the end of the reign, but with some updating of prices, especially for GB varieties and errors.;

To add to its appeal, the publishers have reprinted in black and white, the George V listings extracted from the 1937 British Empire Catalogue (itself published in 1936, the year the King died, and the first therefore to include the complete reign).; Comparison of the prices is an interesting activity, but probably more so is the study of the expansion of the information provided.

My copy fell open at Kuwait, and here there are now, a review of the early postal history and arrangements; illustrations of the postmarks; a table of cover multipliers; and many overprint and watermark varieties, although there are still just 34 main numbers and 27 Officials.

John Cooper's series of articles about the Silver Jubilee issue, originally published in GSM in 1991, has been fully revised and updated and appears here, immediately after the omnibus listing, as a specialist ten page article fully illustrated in colour.; This takes each printer in turn and details the plates used and the varieties discovered.

Just on 500 pages, this is a limited edition of just 750 numbered hardcover copies, which will no doubt become a collectable catalogue in its own right.

With their data base now well established, and both George V and George VI volumes now successfully published, perhaps SG will consider a catalogue for the King Edward VII issues to coincide with the 110^th Anniversary of the first portrait issue of Edward as King by Cayman Islands (and others?) on January 1^st 1902.