Postryttaren 2001, yearbook of the Post Museum of Sweden, ed. Jan Billgren, 6-1/2 by 9-3/4 inches, 200 pages, hardbound, in Swedish, Stockholm, 2001, ISSN 0586-6758, approx. $30 by becoming a Friend of the Swedish Post Museum, Box 2002, 10311 Stockholm, Sweden.

The annual of the Postmuseum of Sweden is sponsored by the Friends of the museum, an organization that is now 75 years old. Since it is an annual, the publication is considered a serial, perhaps somewhat akin to the Congress Book of the American Philatelic Congress. However, the Swedish book carries both scholarly articles as well as general information items to reach a wide audience.

Sven-Rune Johansson gives a short history of the Friends organization, founded in 1926 by such philatelic luminaries as Hans Lagerlöf, Nils Strandell, and Harry Wennberg. Björn Sylwan offers a profile of the Swedish stamp engraver and printer Pehr Ambjörn Sparre. Postal historians Jan Billgren and Tomas Bjäringer present a nice tribute to the late Lauson Stone, who built internationally recognized collections of Sweden's stamps and postal history.

Swedish Polar collector Fred Goldberg contributes a nicely illustrated discussion of rare postal artifacts from the 1901-1904 Antarctic expedition of Otto Nordenskjöld. This year's book also describes the Strandell Medal, established in 1961 by the Swedish Philatelic Federation (SFF) and presented periodically to nationally or internationally recognized philatelists in honor of their contributions in writing, service, or collecting/exhibiting.

Jane Rothlind profiles a lesser-known Polish engraver of Swedish stamps, that is less well known than Czeslaw Slania, namely Piotr Naszarkowski. In addition to several other articles there is a summary of the activities of the Swedish Postal Museum during the year 2000. The book (periodical) contains many color illustrations and is well printed and bound.

Alan Warren