Red/Carmine, 1ȼ Victoria Maple Leaf Issue Advertising Postal Stationery Cards: A Synthesis

Christopher Ellis
Released February 2023.
202 pages, 8.5"x11", spiral bound.
Colour C$ 45.00 [ISBN 978-1-989280-38-6].

Red/Carmine, 1ȼ Victoria Maple Leaf Issue Advertising Postal Stationery Cards: A Synthesis is the first BNAPS handbook to delve deeply into a specific postal stationery issue, the 1¢ red/carmine Victoria Maple Leaf post card, first issued in 1898, and used until late 1903. A detailed history of the cards includes announcements of, and dates of, release; ideas about potentially why they were designed in a certain way; design changes over time; the formats in which they were released to the public; and the postal regulations covering their use. In a classic example of pictures being worth a thousand words, the hundreds of illustrated cards not only demonstrate postal use but also the many different products and services that they advertised. The result is a fascinating snapshot of the social and commercial aspects of the late Victorian era.

Chris Ellis is an archaeologist who spent most of his career as a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Western Ontario. While retired, he still carries out academic work in that field. He lives in London, Ontario, with his spouse, Christine, a retired biological anthropologist, and a demanding cat called Pickles.

While a student in the late 1960s to mid-1970s, Chris served part-time, and also in summers, as a “philatelic expert” with Marketing, Central Ontario Region, Canada Post, which included manning the philatelic booth at many shows as well as at the Canadian National Exhibition and the Royal Winter Fair, and serving for two years as Assistant Postmaster in the outlet at Ontario Place.