Kingdom of Denmark:1851 Rigsbankskilling and 1854-69 Skilling Adhesives through the Post and Abuses by Gavin Fryer. 8 ½ by 11 inches, 48 one-sided pages, card covers, perfect bound, self-published by the author, Addlestone, Surrey, United Kingdom, 2012. For availability, contact the author at gavinfryer@btinternet.com.

            The author specializes in Madagascar and matter for the blind. However, he showed this classic Danish material at the NORDIA 2012 exhibition in Roskilde, Denmark. For references he shows a copy of the March 1851 Postal Act of Denmark and mentions various pertinent postal circulars released over the next two decades.

            The first group of covers includes local letters, footpost, weight markings, and rural deliveries with associated fees. Two examples of ladies’ decorated envelopes are seen. Several printed matter rates are shown for domestic use as well as to Sweden and Norway. A rare 19^th century piece is an envelope used as a parcel card in connection with an institution for the blind.

            The 2-skilling local carrier rate within Copenhagen was extended in 1861 to other large towns, and several examples are shown. Other unusual examples of mail include a domestic money-order letter, an advertised letter, and mail to Holstein and Lübeck.

            The installation of letter boxes outside post offices resulted in many incorrectly paid letters, several examples of which are shown by Fryer. Another type of mail includes items originating in or passing through Sweden

            Abuses illustrated include several re-uses of cancelled stamps, fraud involving cash prepayment whereby the clerk kept 2 skilling for himself but marked the cover otherwise, and a number of improper endorsements. The exhibit is a feast for the eyes of mail from Denmark’s classic period that shows unusual uses, several types of interesting postal markings, misunderstanding of postal rates and regulations, and examples of obvious fraud.

Alan Warren