South Aust: The Long Stamps 1902-1912

This book provides an authoritative text on the South Australian Long Stamps, whose previous standard reference has been the sections on them in The Postage Stamps of South Australia, published by the Philatelic Society of South Australia in 1947.
Mr J. R. W. Purves has now identified ninety-four printings of the eleven values -twenty-seven in the “Thin Postage” (1902-04) and sixty-seven in the “Large Postage” (1904-12) – and has provided means of identifying them all.
Printings made by J. B. Cooke in Adelaide and those he made in Melbourne, after his arrival to be Commonwealth Stamp Printer in 1909, are separated. Similarly, the electro and stereo overprints have been distinguished. Plating of all four value settings of the 3d “Thin Postage” overprints, the second and third overprints of the 9d and the 10d have been completed, a third value setting of the 1/- nearly completed, and progress made on the others.
In the “Thick Postage”, plating of the second and third value settings of the 3d, and 6d, and both settings of the 4d have been completed. Substantial advancement has been made with the other settings in the remaining values, and a new overprint in the 5/- discovered.
There has also been a complete placement of the substitutions made in certain value overprints of the “Thick Postage” issue.
There have been new examination of the four frame-plates.
The examinations of the causes of the ‘Suoth” and ‘Eignt” errors will interest everybody.
Special emphasis has been placed on what the perforations and the papers reveal. New watermark varieties have been found and the lists of constant flaws on Plates 2 and 3 extended.
An adequate set of illustrations is enhanced by the backs of stamps photographed against a black background to make perforation identification easy.