BNAPS Book Description
  • BNAPS Online Resources

To order this book from BNAPS books Sales Agent Bill Longley, click on the book's price at right.


BNAPS books are available from:

Bill Longley
c/o Longley Auctions
PO Box 620
Waterdown, ON L0R 2H0

Book cover illustration

First Day Covers of the 1939 Canada King George VI Royal Visit Issue

Donald J. Leblanc
Released April 2020.
464 pages, 8.5 x 11, Spiral bound.
Colour C$ 81.00 [ISBN 978-1-989280-07-2].

The voyage to Canada by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in the spring of 1939 was not the first to the country by a Royal, but it was the first by a reigning Monarch. The fact that their Majesties travelled coast-to-coast by train provided citizens with an unprecedented opportunity to see them, and gave rise to an incredible number of First Day Covers for the three stamps that were issued in honour of the tour. First Day Covers of the 1939 Canada King George VI Royal Visit Issue is a profusely illustrated and amazingly detailed catalogue of all the different First Day Covers that were issued in 1939.

Donald LeBlanc was born in Moncton, NB, in 1949. After completing his early education in Dieppe and Moncton, he went on to obtain his Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Moncton in 1971. He then continued his education to obtain a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton in 1974.

Moving to Caraquet, NB, in 1975, he practiced law with his own law firm for 26 years until 2000. He was then appointed a Provincial Court Judge, a position that he still holds in 2020. He is married and has two adult children.

On the philatelic side, he has collected stamps ever since his childhood. Over the years, he specialized his Canadian interest, and heavily researched the Royal Visit Issue of 1939 and the War Issue of 1942. Rather than exhibit, he preferred writing articles to document his research.

From 1993 to 1998, he was a regular contributor to The Canadian Philatelist. His column, “Don’s Corner,” consisted of fairly long studies of Canadian plate blocks. In 1998, his writings earned him the Geldert Medal for Philatelic Authorship from the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada.

After1998, he put his pen aside for a period of time, but not his passion for collecting plate blocks and First Day Covers. In 2010, he started writing articles again for the BNAPS George VI Study Group, and continued these articles on the War Issue and Royal Visit Issue until 2018. He has been an active member of BNAPS for over 45 years. This venture is his first complete study in book form.


Copyright © 2015 - 2024 The British North America Philatelic Society.
The documents on this website are for informational and non-commercial or personal use only.
Documents on this website shall not be used on other websites or for commercial purposes without permission.

This page was last modified on 2020-12-22.