thirty years with Stanley Gibbons and redundancy and, together with my wife, I set about building my own business towards the end of 1993.
In the course of my career, I had always believed it to be of prime importance to be able to refer to well-researched books, both in the course of seeking to purchase either single items or collections or later when preparing for sale items earlier purchased. Thus it was that, over the years that I traded, I sought to build a comprehensive library of those books that I either knew from my earlier career would be of prime importance and value to me as works of reference or which later, in the course of trading, I came across and recognised as being worthy of acquisition with an eye to the future.
One of the major tasks for any aspiring author of a work of reference, and here I am specifically thinking of a philatelist or postal historian, is that of being able to verify facts earlier acquired during the course of studying their chosen area of specialisation. Aside such works of reference as they may have accumulated during their years of study there are places which they may well decide to visit in the course of further research including, for example, The British Library, The Postal Museum, The Public Records Office, etc. In addition, the author will almost certainly seek to enlist the assistance and input of fellow specialists in their chosen subject and acknowledgement will in due course be given when the book is published.
Just occasionally, although thankfully rarely, I have come across instances where too much reliance has been placed upon that information already in print, most often because the facts earlier presented are, or appear to be, either beyond reproach or else are visibly present and believable. At other times a close inspection of an item in the author’s collection may not seemingly contradict previously published facts.
This last possible explanation for the occurrence of an error came to mind recently when I was in the process of integrating a small group of earlier purchased items into my collection of LL postcards of the Channel Islands. Here I should confess that I am not as conversant with the LL numbers of the cards of Jersey as with those of Guernsey having only in recent years decided upon adding the cards of the former island to my collection. I would also mention, and collectors of these cards will be aware, that in the case of black and white cards in particular, it is occasionally very difficult if not impossible to read all of the inscription printed in black on the front of the card when such overlaps the image depicted thereon (Figure 1 above).
Thus, when I came to add the Jersey LL card depicting “Highlands. – Collège de Jésuites (Aile gauche). / Jewish college (left wing).” (Figure 1 above) –incorrectly translated as a Jewish college when it was in fact run by the Jesuits –I needed to confirm the number. Upon close inspection and with the aid of a strong magnifying glass – my eyesight occasionally needing such assistance these days – I thought the number to be 37. As, from recollection, I had thought that it might be numbered in the 80s I referred to my copy of Bob Mallet’s excellent and fully illustrated work on the LL postcards of Jersey (Reference 2) which identified the card as being no. 87. However, a close examination of the of the card illustrated therein determined it to be in fact numbered 37. I then decided to check both Stanley Newman’s listing of the LL postcards of the Channel Islands (Reference 1), the listing that got me started on collecting these most attractive of postcards, and finally the most recent and comprehensive of all published books dealing with the subject of LL postcards, that by John Wood listing all UK LL postcards (Reference 3). Both of these publications do in fact identify the card as being numbered 87. This would appear to suggest the perpetuation of an error over the years, all too easily acceptable when the subject of the error does not itself facilitate easy and accurate identification (Figure 2).
I shall in the coming months have to carefully check the numbering of all of the cards in my collection although I have little doubt that I shall find another instance of accidental misnumbering.
References:
1. LL Postcards of the Channel Islands, Stanley Newman, Fifth edition, 2006.
2. A Catalogue of Jersey Postcards, Published by Levy Sons & Co., Paris” Bob Mallet, 2014.
3. LL1 – All the LL Postcards of the UK” by John Wood, 2017.
