Questions On Various Revenue Literature

Still looking for the some informative literature about the first issue revenues. I have recently picked up:

a. An Historical Reference List of Revenue Stamps of the United States by George L. Toppan, Hiram E. Deats, and Alexander Holland

b. A Catalog of United States Revenue-Stamped Documents of the Civil War Era by Type and Tax Rate by Michael Mahler

There are several other works available that I have been looking at, but it is very difficult to tell what the books are about without actually buying them? So I have some questions that maybe someone on here can answer.

1. Are "Revenue Stamps of the United States 1862-1899 by Roger W. Sargent 1942 and The Toppan book listed above the same book? I've noticed both books are called "The New Boston Revenue Book"

2. Is there a book (or a website) available that has a visual record of each double transfer listed by Scott. Dan's site is the closest that I can find, but he is missing several. There's a book called
Shift Hunter Letters - U.S. Revenue Varieties by C.W. Bedford that I believe may go into this, but I'm not really sure.

3. Is there much difference between the Introduction to Revenue Stamps by Bill Castenholz and the one put out by Friedberg?

4. What kind of information is in the book "The Revenue Stamps of the United States" by Christopher West?

Thanks

The Shif Hunter Letters is a series of columns originated by C.W. Bedford back in the 30's. Lots of good info, although the illustrations are just drawings. There is no definitive list of all the DT's, there are still unknown and unlisted examples that show up from time to time and several revenues have more then one DT position. I found a major unlisted medicine DT just last year.
Christopher West was really Eliot Perry, a great philatelic writer and expert. Any of his books are well worth having.
One book not on your list is the Revenue Unit Columns from the American Philatelist, by King, a compilation from the 20's, 30's and 40's. A lot of good info there.

Yes, Sargent is just a reprint of the Toppan, Deats, and Holland work. Friedberg's volume is a compilation of his Linn's columns and I have gone back to it on occasion. I bought Castenholz when it came out; it is basic, but I don't recall going back to it after I read it.

Ron Lesher

I hope to be fleshing out the plate variety list on my site with more photos during the winter months, and have arranged licensing permission with Amos for a numbering system for the 1st-3rd issue revenue plate varieties (DTs plate cracks, plate scratches, foreign entries, doubled framelines, etc.), as some stamps have numerous different DTs and plate cracks/scratches, with varying degrees of scarcity and demand.

I don't know that they will ever wind up in the Scott Catalog, as (1) it would expand the existing revenue section considerably, and (2) the image sizes used by Amos are insufficient for all but the most dramatic DTs.

Still, there needs to be a way to differentiate the different DTs on the same stamp in some consistent manner.

Personally, for first issues I have found Dan's (revenuecollector's) site to be as useful as most of the literature, and in some instances more useful. For one thing, there are thousand's of scanned images. Among other features, there are reference links, estimated retail values, a great explanation of silk papers with illustrations, and an ability to search for cancels. I go to the Boston and Mahler books for information on quantities printed, explanations of the tax rates, and things like that.

I'm trying to put the plate varieties of the first three issues (R1 through R150) on the APS website. I attempted to do this with the ARA without success but with a lot of help we may be able to put a comprehensive set of scans just a click away for everyone. The list will be too extensive for Scotts but will be able to properly identify the Scott listed varieties. Scotts can then pick and choose which varieties they list, as many are missing now.