Note on postal stationery in the 1890s

[bill]

Basset Hull wrote only two chapters on postal stationery in his book on
Tasmania. These dealt with postal cards and stamped envelopes. His
writings in the early 1890s included updates on postal stationery, such
as local printings of postal cards and registered envelopes.

The reason for the limited updates on postal stationery is surely due
to his move to Brisbane in 1892 to research the official records of the
stamps and postal stationery of Queensland (soon published in Vindin's
Philatelic Monthly). This was followed by his move to Sydney in 1893,
where he lived until the beginning of 1902, when he went to England
to gather more information from the records, including the stamps of
Tasmania.

We can now see that he would have had much fewer opportunities to
maintain contact with officials who had access to the records that he
made heavy use of (with official permission). Also, interest in postal
stationery declined after 1900 when Gibbons decided to drop them.
(This did not deter the German collectors from keeping up with new
issues of postal stationery.)

Indeed, there were more local printings of postal cards in the 1890s
but it was not as easy for Basset Hull to keep in touch with officials
in Hobart about the latest developments. Even so, he did contribute
new reports on postal stationery, such as the special postal cards for
the International Exhibition in 1894-5 and the scenic envelopes that
appeared in 1898, not forgetting the lettercards of 1898 and 1900.

Surviving records in the archives post 1890 are rather incomplete as
the late Dr Owen Ingles found in the 1960s and probably earlier.

Bill