The Fitzgerald Collection is an extensive[1] philatelic collection of air mail stamps donated to the British Library and announced in 1951.[2][3][4]

In 1953 a further donation of funds was provided by Mrs Augustine Fitzgerald to preserve and catalogue the collection. In 2006 the Fitzgerald Airmail Fund was reported at £68,000.[5]

Description

At the time of donation, The Times described the collection as the finest of its kind. As well as the extensive collection of stamps for early postal flights up until the 1930s, the collection includes related artefacts such as souvenirs of postal balloons as per the siege of Paris in 1870 and documents such as the air pilot's licence issued to Sir John Alcock.[4] It is particularly well represented in the material of France, Germany, Italy, Newfoundland and United States.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Harris, Philip Rowland (1998), A history of the British Museum Library, 1753–1973, British Library, p. 592, ISBN 978-0-7123-4562-0
  2. ^ The Times newspaper reported the donation in 1951, but Harris (1998) reports the year of acquisition as 1942 and the British Library website (on 19 January 2011) reports 1947. According to Schoolley-West (1987), the collection was offered to the British Museum in 1942 but due to the collections being securely stored under war-time conditions, the collection could not be delivered until 1947.
  3. ^ Schoolley-West, R. F.; Library, British (1987), Stamps, British Library, p. 46, ISBN 978-0-7123-0127-5, British Library YV.1988.b.727
  4. ^ a b "Gift To British Museum; Fitzgerald Collection Of Airmail Stamps". The Times. 11 August 1951. p. 6.
  5. ^ The British Library Annual Report 2005/06; Statement of Funds (PDF), British Library, 2006
  6. ^ "Philatelic Collections: Air Mail Collections". British Library. 3 November 2003. Retrieved 19 January 2011.



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