AFA Specialkatalog 2008: Danmark, Færøerne, Grønland, Dansk Vestindien og Slesvig (specialized catalog of Denmark and related areas), ed. E. Daugaard. 6 x 8 ½ inches, 912 pages, casebound, in Danish, AFA-Forlaget, Otterup, Denmark, 2007. ISBN 10:87-7012-316-0, approximately $90 plus shipping from Nordfrim, Kvindevadet 42, 5450 Otterup, Denmark; www.nordfrim.dk. Also available in the USA from Jay Smith & Associates, PO Box 650, Snow Camp NC 27349.

Every five years or so this specialized catalog appears with detailed listings of not only Denmark but also the related areas of the Faroes, Greenland, Danish West Indies and Schleswig. It is the major reference work for the stamps of these countries, listing varieties; values for mint, used, and on cover; and from the 1940s on, values for first day covers and plate blocks.

The first day cancellations are shown beginning with the 1940 stamps, and many later issues have interesting pictorial cancels. Stamp illustrations are in color. However, the plate flaws of the bicolor issues are old black and white illustrations that are so worn that the details cannot be discerned. The publisher needs to update those with new images.

For Denmark the usual back of the book items are listed such as Christmas seals, officials, postage dues, postal ferry stamps, newspaper stamps, booklets, Frama labels, year sets, souvenir cards and more. A little over 500 pages are devoted to Denmark alone. The Faroes and Greenland receive similar treatment in their value listings. However, the Danish West Indies stamps are examined in greater depth with respect to plate flaws of the early issues.

Lasse Nielsen, an expert on the classic issues of Denmark, devotes nearly one hundred pages of this catalog to the various printings of the skilling issues and early øre bicolor issues of Denmark. Nielsen also describes the essays and proofs of Denmark from 1849 to 1900.

The catalog begins with definitions of terms and near the end is a Danish-English vocabulary listing. For thematic collectors there is a nice alphabetical listing of stamp subjects with their catalog numbers. The 2002 edition was 800 pages and this one is just over 900, so contents have grown considerably. For serious collectors of the Danish area stamps, this is the catalog to own.

Alan Warren