Prepared by Thomas Lera, Winton M. Blount Research Chair, The Council of Philatelists Research Committee, Michael Rogers and H. James Maxwell.
COLLECTION SCOPE & CONTENT
These specialized collections of A. M. Tracey Woodward’s original plating study of the 1, 2 and 4-sen stamps of Japan issued between 1872 and 1874 are contained in eight albums.
PROVENANCE
L. W. Christenson donated a specialized 4-volume collection of Japan. The 1-sen blue postage stamp of 1872 was donated on April 26, 1960 (Accession Number 230483). There are a total of 1,156 objects in these volumes labeled Volumes 1 - 4.
On November 30, 1960 (Accession Number 233688), he donated another specialized 4-volume collection of Japan the 2-sen yellow and 4-sen rose postage stamps of 1872 – 1874. There are a total of 1,138 objects in these volumes labeled as Volumes 5 - 8.
NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION
These albums contain the original plating study of A. M. Tracey Woodward, which resulted in several chapters of his two-volume book entitled Postage Stamps of Japan and Dependencies (1928). It is one of philately’s rarest books and the NPM library has two copies–one a regular edition, the other a reviewer’s copy.
In 1929, A.M. Tracey Woodward received the Crawford Medal, a vermeil medal, awarded by the Royal Philatelic Society of London for the most valuable and original contribution to the study and knowledge of philately published in book form during the relevant period. The medal is named after James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford, who by the time of his death in 1913 had amassed the greatest philatelic library of his time.
There are eight albums in the collection; the first four albums cover the 1-sen stamp, the next three albums cover the 2-sen stamp and the last album covers the 4-sen stamp.
