Photogravure

The printing contract changed back from Waterlow to Harrison in 1934.

The printing process was changed from Letterpress to Photogravure, a faster and lower cost process using double sized cylinders of 480 stamps instead of plates of 240, but Harrison could not get the new process in place before the stock of Waterlow stamps would have run out, so provisional printings were made by Harrison in letterpress.

The first stamps printed in photogravure were issued in August 1934, and the first booklets containing these stamps in January 1935. The booklets continued on from the 2s, 3s and 5s series of Block Cypher booklets.

The size of the stamp design used on counter sheet stamps was reduced twice to allow for more accurate perforation. These sizes are known as Large, Intermediate, and Small formats. Stamps for booklets were produced in only Intermediate and Small formats. It has been said that the booklet sizes are a little different from the counter sheet sizes, but this is not correct. While the overall stamp size remained constant at 0.8 x 0.95 inches, the perforation gutter between each stamp was changed from 1/16 inch (0.0625″) for large format, to 0.075″ for intermediate format, to 0.095″ for small format.

Intermediate Format

2s Booklet Series 4: BB15

To see more BB15 booklets click here.

Date: Jan 1935
Editions: 288-297
Printer: Harrison
Watermark: Block Cypher
Makeup: FC, int, NB25, int, NB24, int, NB22, int, NB20, int, BC
Cancels: 28P, 33P

Editions 290, 291, 293, 295: omit the last interleaf.
Editions 291-297: have an air mail pane after the front cover, or after the first stamp pane.

* These editions are known bound with staples.

A missewn booklet, given new covers and stapled so that stitch holes are present in the contents but not in the covers, and an Advertisers Voucher Copy dated 9 Apl 1935, cancelled Type 28P.

3s Booklet Series 3: BB27

To see more BB27 booklets click here.

Date: Jan 1935
Editions: 289-293
Printer: Harrison
Watermark: Block Cypher
Makeup: FC, NB24, int, NB24, int, NB24, int, NB22, int, NB20, BC
Cancels: 33P

Editions 289-293: have an air mail pane after the front cover, or after the first stamp pane.
Edition 293: has an extra interleaf at back.

5s Booklet Series 5: BB36

Date: Feb 1935
Editions: 9
Printer: Harrison
Watermark: Block Cypher
Makeup: FC, NB25, air, int, NB24, int, NB24, int, NB24, int, NB24, int, NB24, int, NB22, int, NB20, BC

Edition 9: has an air mail pane after the first stamp pane.

Small Format

2s Booklet Series 4: BB17

To see more BB17 booklets click here.

Date: July 1935
Editions: 305-353
Printer: Harrison
Watermark: Block Cypher
Makeup: FC, air, int, NB27, int, NB26, int, NB23, int, NB21, BC
Cancels: 28P, 33, 33P

Edition 305: early booklets contain NB27(17), later ones contain NB27(16).
Editions 305,343: all adverts are for Drages Furniture, pages are numbered.
Editions 305-353: have an air mail pane after the front cover, or after the first stamp pane.
Editions 309-314: are stitched with purple thread.
Editions 328, 329: have an extra interleaf at back.
Editions 328, 335, 337, 344: have a Dubarry advert after the front cover.
Editions 347, 348: dates transposed, 347 was Aug, 348 was Sept.
Edition 350: exists with the advert labels transposed NB27(15a).

To see the Drages Furniture adverts in editions 305 & 343, see Adverts & Interleaves below.

* These editions are known bound with staples.



An Advertisers Voucher Copy dated 10 Oct 1935, cancelled Type 28P.

3s Booklet Series 3: BB29

To see more BB29 booklets click here.

Date: July 1935
Editions: 298-319
Printer: Harrison
Watermark: Block Cypher
Makeup: FC, NB26, int, NB26, int, NB26, int, NB23, int, NB21, BC
Cancels: 28P, 33P

Editions 298-319: have an air mail pane after the front cover, or after the first stamp pane.
Editions 302, 303, 310: have an extra interleaf at back.
Edition 304: has a Ford’s Blotter after the front cover.
Editions 308, 311-313, 319: have a Dubarry advert after the front cover.
Editions 312, 313: exist with and without Dubarry adverts.

* These editions are known bound with staples.



An Advertisers Voucher Copy dated 14 Sep 1935, cancelled Type 33P.

5s Booklet Series 5: BB37

To see more BB37 booklets click here.

Date: July 1935
Editions: 10-15
Printer: Harrison
Watermark: Block Cypher
Makeup: FC, NB27, air, int, NB26, int, NB26, int, NB26, int, NB26, int, NB26, int, NB23, int, NB21, BC
Cancels: 28P, 33P

Edition 10: exists with mixed format panes, cancelled Type 28P.
Editions 10-15: have an air mail pane after the first stamp pane.
Edition 14: has a Dubarry advert replacing the 3rd interleaf.
Edition 15: exists overprinted Specimen Type 32.

* These editions are known bound with staples.

A missewn booklet, given new covers and stapled so that stitch holes are present in the contents but not in the covers, and an Advertisers Voucher Copy dated 25 Jun 1935, cancelled Type 28P, with “SPECIMEN” on the front cover. This AVC has mixed intermediate and small format panes (½d and 1d are small), no other mixed format booklet is known.

Booklet Panes

Booklet panes of six were printed in photogravure using double cylinders (no-dot and dot sheets), each sheet having 240 stamps arranged as 20 upright booklet panes, and 20 inverted. Cancellations are equally likely to be found on upright or inverted panes, unless otherwise noted.

Two new horizontal perforating machines were introduced for the photogravure sheets, although the vertical machine from 1919 was occasionally used as a reserve. The main horizontal machine produced B4(E) and B4A(I), the reserve horizontal machine produced B4(E) and B4B(E), and the vertical machine produced B3(I) and B3A(P).

Full sheet reconstructions are shown under Sheets & Perforations.

Watermark Block Cypher.

NB22/a: Inter; Booklets BB15, BB27, BB36; Perfs E, P, I; Cancels 28P, 33, 33P; Cyls F1
NB23/a: Small; Booklets BB17, BB29, BB37; Perfs E, P, I; Cancels 28P, 33, 33P; Cyls F6, F7
(NB23aw: Small, Type 32 with punch hole on R1/1. Ex Sept 1985 NPM sale)

NB24/a: Inter; Booklets BB15, BB27, BB36; Perfs E, P, I; Cancels 28P, 33, 33P; Cyls G4
NB26/a: Small; Booklets BB17, BB29, BB37; Perfs E, P, I; Cancels 28P, 33, 33P; Cyls G20, G24, G27, G30, G31
(NB26aw: Small, Type 32 with punch hole on R1/1. Ex Sept 1985 NPM sale)

NB25/a: Inter; Booklets BB15, BB36; Perfs E, P, I; Cancels 28P, 33, 33P; Cyls G7, G9, G10, G15, G16, G17
Variety NB25c, NB25ab: White scratch from frame through “TH” (R1/1), advert (5)

Edition numbers are shown in parenthesis after the description,
those with a “#” sign are printed on the advert label.

Adverts were etched on to the cylinders as follows:

Cyls	No-dot	Dot
G7	NB25(5)	NB25(6)
G9	NB25(4)	NB25(1)
G10	NB25(2)	NB25(3)
G15	NB25(4)	NB25(3)
G16	NB25(4)	NB25(2)
G17	NB25(3)	NB25(3)

NB27/a: Small; Booklets BB17, BB37; Perfs E, P, I; Cancels 28P, 33, 33P; Cyls G24, G26, G28
(NB27aw: Small, Type 32 with punch hole on R1/1 (14). Ex Sept 1985 NPM sale)

Advert (15a) was included in edition 350. Four copies were found with the error thought to be caused by a row of stamps being folded over during stacking (but perhaps more likely a guillotining error). An article in the GB Journal Vol 45 page 122 claimed that 350 was a misprint for 352, but the article was incorrect as it was based on an error in Stanton’s card index. The transposed panes were indeed found in edition 350.

Advert (17) was included in edition 305, but “Installed Free” was no longer true. Printing was suspended and the words obliterated with a handstamp. The edition continued substituting advert (16) instead.

To see all advert panes click here.

Adverts & Interleaves

This section gives a summary of adverts and interleaves, showing only a few examples. More can be found here: Dubarry, Ford, Air Mail Labels.

All photogravure booklets had adverts on the front and back covers, and on the interleaves. Most notable were adverts by Dubarry which were printed in full colour on glazed card inserts, and included in four editions of the 2s booklet, five editions of the 3s booklet, and one of the 5s booklets, all small format.

Dubarry also had black and white adverts on the inside of the front cover of some booklets, but not in any booklet that had a coloured advert.

A sample of Ford’s blotting paper in Golden Yellow was included after the front cover in edition 304 of the 3s booklet. Ford also had an advert on the back of edition 316. Note that the insert states “22 beautiful colours” but the back has “23 colours”.

An air mail pane was included in all photogravure booklets except for the first three editions of BB15. The inscription changed periodically.

All of the advertising in BB17 editions 305 & 343 was taken by Drages Furniture, including both labels on the advert pane in editition 343 (shown above). The adverts inside the booklet were numbered 1-8, the inside front cover being 1, and the inside back cover being 8.

BB17 edition 343 interleaves.

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