PLATING OF PENNY BLACK BOOK

As the world's first, the Penny Black has probably been the subject of more prolonged and detailed study than any postage stamp issued since - and rightly so! Still considered by many to be the most attractive ever issued, it is certainly the one stamp which every collector would like to own. But in its short period of currency it was printed from 11 different plates, and with the two seperate states of Plate 1 making 12, and 240 corner letter combinations from each, thereare a total of 2880 different Penny Blacks to collect! Reference to the catalogue will show that a poor example from a common plate may be only worth a few pounds, but a superlative stamp from a scarce one will cost thousands - but how dotell the difference? There is no better guide than this book first published in 1922, with seperate pictures of all 2880 stamps, and detailed notes on the facing page to assist identification. First published by Stanley Gibbons in 1998 with some editorial amendments and a few foreword by Charles W Goodwyn LLB, RDP, FRPSL, then keeper of the Royal Philatelic Collection, the book proved to be a godsend to collectors chasing an ever-declining number of the original publication. This new edition is designed to meet the needs of yet another generation of Penny Black collectors; a description of each individual stamp of the eleven different plates, affording a guide to collectors in the reconstruction of sheets