Isn’t it gorgeous? The souvenir sheet, “Stamps from the Keller Collection,” is available free of charge with the Mysterious Bookshop’s signed and limited small-press philatelic edition of Hit Me. We’ll be able to accept orders early in November, but for now I wanted to show you the sheet. As you can see, it depicts some very elusive items:
—the 2-1/2 heller provisional stamp, printed but never issued, by the press of the Evangelical Mission in Wuga, German East Africa.
—Martinique #2, the French colony’s rarest and most expensive stamp, acquired by Keller after a horse race ended in a photo finish.
—A German stamp overprinted for use in the plebiscite territory of Allenstein, but never released, and now reposing in the collection of a young boy in Buffalo, New York, a new friend of Keller’s.
—Obock #J1, the very rare postage due stamp. Keller owned a lower-priced reprint, until an original came up for sale in an auction in Dallas.
—British East Africa #34Ac, the very rare initialed provisional issue. To bid on this stamp, Keller had to risk a return to New York.
—United States #C3, a stamp we can call the Poor Man’s Jenny. As you’ll learn in Hit Me, it has special significance to Keller…
The limited Philatelic Edition of Hit Me is priced at $75 plus shipping. Order a copy, and the souvenir sheet is yours free. Full details of how to order will be posted on this page sometime in early November.
