Addenda and Corrigenda to The Postal History of the Oxford Union Society to 1920

Below are listed addenda and corrigenda to West 2012. Those already published in West 2013 are asterisked. An earlier version of this web page is also available from The Royal Philatelic Society London.

For Chapter 4 "Overprints and Underprints: Usage" (pages 25-36), the discovery of any cover not in the author's database at the time of publication potentially alters the statistical information provided, but it is impractical to update this here. However any significant cover will be reported below.

Page 9 lines 10-11: Replace sentence beginning "The earliest" by "The earliest postal items known to the author are a 26 March 1842 envelope with an otherwise unrecorded yellow OUS wafer seal (Figure 3a) in a private collection and an 18 July 1844 envelope with a similar red OUS wafer seal (Ref. 16a). There were two 1849 envelopes in the Harding collection."
Page 9 line 15: Add new figure 3a "OUS wafer seal":
Page 9 line 15: *Add new paragraphs:
"In Chapter XI of Part I of The Adventures of Mr Verdant Green, an 1850s humorous fictional account of the life of an Oxford undergraduate by Cuthbert Bede, the hero frequented the Union [before its move to Frewin Court] daily:

...writing his letters to the home department on the very best note-paper, and sealing them extensively with 'the Oxford Union' seal, though he could not at first be persuaded that trusting his letters to a wire closet was at all a safe system of postage.
"However in a 3 June 1853 letter in the author's collection addressed to Kenrick Prescot at Merton College, his father berates him for his lack of communication adding: '[But do] not write [letters] at that Union Debating Club, which the Vice Chancellor and the Proctors ought to put down'".
Page 10 line 4: Replace "1905" by "1896".
Page 10 line 11: Add "Another cover in the author's collection dated 6 May 1856 also appears to have a voucher letter and number under the stamp".
Page 10 line 24: After "(Ref. 35);" add "by 1896 the Sunday hours in term extended from 10.30 am to 10 pm;". Replace the following "the Sunday hours in term extended" by "they were".
Page 11 line 2: Replace "1905" by "1896".
Page 12 line 9: *Add new paragraph:
"In an 1887 guide A. M. M. Stedman wrote (Ref. 42a):

There is, too, a writing-room, where paper, envelopes, etc., are supplied, and letters gratuitously stamped. It is a natural result that this room should be generally crowded by undergraduates, whose eager desire is to equal their subscription by the value of stamps consumed..."
Page 12 line 11: Before "Also" add sentence "An unstamped 24 September 1896 OUS local cover was charged postage due (Ref. 43a)".
Page 12 line 15: Add "Later the Society's name in black UNION SOCIETY,/ OXFORD or arms in blue replaced the albino embossing on the envelope flap (covers in the author's collection are dated respectively 17 May 1899 and 9 May 1904)".
Page 17 line 5: Before "Jordan" add sentence "A broken 'O' occurs at position EJ (Ref. 61a)".
Page 18 line 5: Replace "109-119, 121" by "109-121".
Page 18 line 6: After "101" add ", 102".
Page 21 figure 17 line 5: Replace "100 (5)" by "100" and "110" by "110 (5)".
Page 21 line 15: Replace "Hilary 1874" by "Easter 1874".
Page 21 line 21: Delete "European".
Page 21 line 30: After "(Ref. 84)" add "(doubled on plate 155 (Ref. 84a)".
Page 25 line 11: Replace "number of stamps" by "rate, number of OUS stamps".
Page 26 line 10: After "OXFORD)." add sentence "There are impressions dated 25 October 1864 of the two line phrase and the OUS arms in a Spiers dies book (Hudson collection)" and after "Some" add "envelopes".
Page 26 line 24: Replace "Balliol (1862)" by "Balliol (1862 and 1883) - two examples".
Page 26 line 28: Add "Lincoln (1859 and 1867) - two examples (Ref. 96a)".
Page 26 line 33: Add "Worcester (1861) (Ref. 96b)".
Page 27 line 3: Replace "one case" by "three cases".
Page 27 lines 4-5: Replace "in the author's collection" by "two in the author's collection, one in the Donaldson collection".
Page 27 figure 23: *Replace "3d or 4d" by "3d, 4d or 6d".
Page 28 line 19: Replace "Five" by "Seven". After "all" add "but the third".
Page 28 line 20: *Delete "1d or ½d".
Page 28 line 21: *After "destinations" add "at the current single letter rate (Ref. 106a)".
Page 28 line 24: *Add item "1a. To Canada postmarked 28 May 1868 bearing two overprinted 1d plate 74, together with a 4d vermilion plate 9 (Ref. 106b)".
Page 28 line 24: Add item "1b. To USA postmarked 16 November 1870 bearing two overprinted 1d plate 116, together with an ordinary 1d plate 128 (Ref. 106c)".
Page 28 line 24: After "USA" add "(same address)".
Page 31 line 11: Replace "December 1864" by "December 1865".
Page 31 line 21: Add "There are also covers addressed to Miss Jane Anne Ferguson at the same address (1862)".
Page 31 line 23: After "1867)" add ", one redirected from Waltham Cross. A single cover is addressed to her at Llandudno (October 1867)".
Page 31 line 24: Add "There is also a cover with a vertical pair addressed to N? B Mapplebeck at Bull Ring, Birmingham (May 1863)".
Page 32 line 1: Replace "three" by "four".
Page 32 line 25: After "also" add "at Malvern Wells and".
Page 33 lines 14-16: Replace "three" by "four", "one" by "two" and before final bracket add "and 26 October 1873 (Ref. 115a), later than Chambers' latest date".
Pages 39-40: Replace text of chapter 6 as here (illustrations unchanged).
Page 44 line 12: Before "October 1913" add "October 1896 and"; before "October 1961" add "October 1946, October 1952 and".
Page 45: Add "Sigee, D.C., 2012. University Mails of Oxford and Cambridge 1490-1900, Matador Press".
Page 45: *Add "Stedman, A.M.M., 1887, Oxford: its Life and Schools, London".
Page 45: *Add "Tabeart, C., 2003, United Kingdom Letter Rates Inland and Overseas 1635 to 1900, Bradford".
Page 45: Add "West, V., 2015, An OUS Overprint Positional Variety, The GB Journal Vol. 53/1, January/February 2015, pp 1-2".
Page 46 reference 14: Replace "1905" by "1896" twice.
Page 46: Add reference "16a. Sigee 2012 Fig. 6.14 and Table 6.1".
Page 46 reference 24: Replace "1905" by "1896".
Page 47 reference 29: Replace "1905" by "1896" twice.
Page 47 reference 36: Replace by "OUS RR 1896, 1905 and 1907, rule LXXII".
Page 47 reference 38: Replace "1905" by "1896".
Page 47 reference 41: Replace "1905" by "1896" twice.
Page 47: *Add reference "42a. Stedman 1887 p98".
Page 47: Add reference "43a. Sigee 2012 Fig. 6.13 and Table 6.1".
Page 47: Add reference "61a. West 2015".
Page 47 reference 65: After "34 on piece" add "postmarked 18 February 1860" and replace "NA on piece" by "NA on cover".
Page 47 reference 67: After "1868" add "and in September 2023 the same dealer offered SI on plate 102".
Page 48: Add reference "84a. Donaldson collection (corner letters IA)".
Page 48: Add reference "96a. 1859 reported by Paul Davey; 1867 Ebay March 2022".
Page 48: Add reference "96b. Ebay May 2023".
Page 48 reference 99: Replace "in the Sigee collection" by "Sigee 2012 Fig. 6.12".
Page 48 reference 100: Replace "Three" by "Four" and "two" by "three".
Page 49: *Add reference "106a. Tabeart 2003".
Page 49: *Add reference "106b. Andrew Vaughan August 2012 list item 90".
Page 49: Add reference "106c. Ebay 16 September 2019".
Page 49: Add reference "115a. Sigee 2012 Fig. 6.21a and Table 6.1".
Page 49 reference 126: Replace "1905" by "1896 and 1905".
Page 49: Add reference "129a. Magpie auction 196 1 March 2017 lot 269".

Addenda and Corrigenda to The Postal History of the Oxford Union Society to 1920

Bibliography A to Z | College Stamps