Editor

To take over from an Editor of 25 years standing is quite an act to follow, and you will all want me to thank David for his many hours of dedicated and astute work not just in his capacity as Editor of this journal but also his contribution in many of the executive roles of this society. We should also mention that David has served our tremendous hobby elsewhere as a volunteer, notably as Honorary Secretary of the Royal Philatelic Society London from February 1999 to September 2002.

So, what do I hope to bring to this position? First, continuity. This Journal has long been a valuable support to members and collectors worldwide in informing and furthering our collecting interests. I will always attempt, contributions permitting, to produce a balance of topics as published articles. As we know the Channel Islands are a rich source of varied subjects from pre-stamp, air and maritime mail, the Occupation, the philately of the independent authorities, and everything in between. I will aim to publish articles covering a balance of subjects in every issue.

Secondly, format. This Journal has been published in this now traditional A5 format since December 1975. I well know that members have expressed a preference for this format in the past, and I have no intention of changing to another.

Thirdly, technical capacity. David has always adopted the technology available to him faultlessly, and this has worked well for him as Editor, our supportive printers, and our members. Any changes in the future will be minor as needs arise and will hopefully be noticeable only to those with publishing knowledge. I bring to this post experience of having edited a specialist journal in the past, as well as many articles and philatelic books elsewhere, both as a philatelist and as a translator, but as Editor I am just a “go-between”.

Finally, although I have only limited experience from the past in collecting Channel Islands material, I have many years’ experience as a fellow philatelist in other areas and will always be consultative and defer to expert opinion from amongst our members.

Thank you for entrusting this important job to me. I will do my best to carry on the same tradition as your exalted recent and past editors.

Best wishes and happy reading,

Nick Martin FRPSL

Editor

As stated above I do not intend to make major changes to the basic format of this journal without referral. However, there are minor points which always help an editor in his work, and mine are as follows. Please remember that the settings on your own computers are not necessarily the same as mine, but please do not worry!

I prefer contributions in Microsoft Word but can work from any Windows compatible formatting. Please use a commonly used font such as 12pt Times New Roman. There is no need to spend time revising margins or other page settings.

Please do not embed images within the text, although a version as you view it is always helpful. Images should be clearly identified with a recognizable and attributable name and illustration number (e.g. Ref. 1 etc) and a place marker inserted into the text where the illustration is required.

Correct scanning is essential to produce a good final result. Please scan images as 300dpi (there will be a setting on your printer/scanners), and ensure images are saved as JPEGs (or as TIFF images (.tif) which are much higher quality. Always scan at 100% as an Editor is best placed to decide on any final size in the article if any size reduction is necessary.

Please ensure that your covers or stamps are placed straight on the scanning surface. It is very time-consuming to correct crooked images and often leads to a deterioration of the image.

To identify text describing illustrations, please do this in italics within your article to make it clear that it is the caption to an illustration. End of sermon! Many thanks.    

Nick Martin

The Late Robert Danzig. A very recent sad loss has been our dealer member Robert Danzig who looked after so many of us so well. I have known Robert for many years and made a contribution on the Channel Islands Maltese Cross to his jointly authored excellent 1991 book The Cancellations of the 1841 Penny Red. During the 1997 weekend meeting of the Society on the Isle of Wight Robert and Sarah very kindly invited the Society to their lovely spacious home where we were entertained in their gardens and shown various parts of Roberts’ collections followed by some excellent refreshments prepared by Sarah. Such a memorable event and one we all enjoyed immensely, Our thoughts remain with Sarah and family.