The World of Classic Stamps, 1840-1870. by Mackay, James A - 1972.

New York:: G P Putnam's Sons, 1972.. Hardbound . BINDING/CONDITION: green cloth; the hinges are somewhat shaken, otherwise a Very Good+ book, with a Very Good dust jacket; publisher's price on the jacket flap is intact.. about 9.75 inches tall by 7.5 inches wide . Appendices, bibliography, index. Description: Features 200 stamps illustrated in color and 300 stamps shown in black and white. The publisher's blurb reads: ''The classic stamps are regarded by collectors as those which were produced all over the world during the thirty years from 1840 to 1870. This was an age of innocence, before governments and postal administrations discovered that money could be made from the sale of stamps to collectors, and so the classics are virtually free of the manipulation and abuses to which more recent stamps have been subject. The classics include the world's greatest rarities, such as the British Guiana One Cent of 1856, sold in 1970 for £280,000. This is the first book to trace the birth and development of the adhesive postage stamp on a global scale. Also covers early postal stationery and devotes attention to the stamps issued by private companies.''