Books On India's Stamps And Cancellations

Hey all

I own a bookstore and am being offered a collection of books on stamps of India. I collect US material, and am not familiar with these books. I am wondering if there is much interest in them

thanks

Joe

1. Bombay GPO (earlier postal history of Bombay Presidency), M.M. Inamdar, 1988

2. Madra GPO (earlier postal history of Madras Presidency), M.M. Inamdar, 1986

3. Catalogue of the handstruck postage stamps of India, D. Hammond Giles, 1989

4. Catalogue of the handstruck postage stamps of India, 1996 supplement, D. Hammond Giles

5. Catalogue of the handstruck postage stamps of India, 1993 supplement, D. Hammond Giles

6. The Imperial post office of British India, Mohini Lal Mazumdar, 1990

7. The silver key to the golden treasure of Indian philately, Manik Jain and S.B/ Kothari, 1986 (first edition)

8. The four annas lithographed stamps of India, 1854-55, D.R. Martin and E.A. Smythies, 1996

9. Indian airmails, Jeffrey Brown, 1996

10. A study of East Inda half anna stamp, Dr. Akshay Y. Kantharia, 1989

11. The one and two anna postage stamps of India, 1854-55, L.R. Dawson, 1948

12. Indian postal history, 1873-1923, D.S. Virk, 1991

13. The overland mail, John K. Sidebottom, 1948 (first edition)

14. A specialized priced catalogue of Indian stamps (1852-1966), Jal Cooper, 1967

15. "Azad Hind" and "Chalo Delhi" stamps, Herbert A. Friedman, 1972 (first edition)

16. Indian field post offices 1903-04, Robson Lowe, 1979 (first edition)

17. India used in Burma, Jal Cooper, 1950 (first edition) - two copies

18. From the diary of Stephen Smith, D.N. Jatia, 1980 (first edition)

19. Stamps of India, Jal Cooper, 1968

20. Early Indian cancellations, Jal Cooper, 1948 (first edition)

21. India used abroad, Jal Cooper, 1950 (first edition)

22. Companion to the handstruck postage stamps of India, D. Hammond Giles, 1967 (first edition)

23. A specialized priced catalogue of Indian rocket mails, Jal Cooper, (first edition)

24. 1994 Phila India color catalogue – Indian philately 1852-1993

25. Early history and growth of postal system in India, Mohini Lal Majumdar, 1994

26. The Stanley Gibbons guide to stamp collecting, John Holman, 1989

27. India used abroad, Vispi S. Dastur, 1982 (first edition)

28. Stanley Gibbons postage stamp catalogue 1950, part I, British Empire (complete)

Barring 23, 24, 26 and 28 I have them all and I can tell all of them will find buyers if offered at reasonable prices.

27 is actually the 2nd Ed. of 1977 1st Ed.
25 was published in April 1995, not in 1994.
22 is the 1st Supplement to 1960 The Philatelic Society of India, Mumbai publication "Handstruck Postage Stamps of India".
11's author is Lionel Edward Dawson, not LR Dawson.
1 is the 2nd Ed. of the 1986 1st Ed.

I agree with Joy. I am rather surprised that an experienced bookseller would ask this question. It's going to depend on your business model whether you buy this lot or not.

I don't know how deep your interest in US stamps go, whether you have US philatelic reference books yourself. Please bear in mind the fact that book buyers in our world are very much more concerned with the information rather than the book itself, although condition is a factor. First editions are not significant if they were followed by an expanded second one, nor is first edition necessarily a factor when there is only one. Pricing for #24 and #28 should be relatively low, as would it be for Scott catalogs of the same vintage.

I agree with the others, but can add that in general, unless a philatelic book is historical such as from the 1800s or maybe early 1900s for some, then in most cases to the extent that there is a newer edition in existence then an older edition will have very little commercial sale value since it will be merely out of date on pricing and lacking corrections that more recent editions will normally have. The one exception is if the older edition has information that has been left out of the newer edition. And, I second Joy's comment about "reasonable price". Used philatelic literature sells for a fraction of what a new unused edition does. For example, number 28 is simply a very outdated (in prices and details of stamps) edition of the current Stanley Gibbons edition and would likely be difficult to sell at even a give-away price. And, while there are collectors of India the number of them is not as large as say US or UK or Germany or etc. etc. stamps so you will have a small market and the majority of them are not likely to be living in the US. Spend a bit of time on ebay and look only at SOLD auction realizations to get an idea of what this kind of literature goes for and then plan on getting slightly lower prices and then make an offer to buy accordingly. Alternatively, recommend to the seler to do what many people these days do with these kinds of books and simply donate them to the American Philatelic Research Library in Pennsylvania and claim a tax deduction on their next tax return which could wind up being higher than what they could sell them for.

Have you found buyers for your India philatelic literature? I am in PA and may be interested in some of these. Thanks!