Early Essays
These four essays are described in Philbrick and Westoby (1881) as being submitted shortly after the passing of the “Telegraph Act, 1868”, dating them 1868-69. Their book includes a description of the designs on p. 376 taken from The Philatelist, vol. vi. p. 56, 1872.
Sir John Wilson describes the set in the Royal Philatelic Collection, which are cut to stamp size, as “produced by the Anaglytograph process on yellowish white card”.
The set in the Tapling Collection has the two in green, which are cut to stamp size, described as “on yellowish card”, and the two in black, which have margins as illustrated above, described as “on stout laid Bâtonné paper”. (Bâtonné paper is a paper watermarked with widely spaced parallel lines.)
The set in the Langmead Collection has margins as illustrated above on the two “silhouette” designs, but much wider margins on the two “wreath” designs, similar to the essays illustrated below.
| — | 1s | — | — | silhouette in black |
| — | 1s | — | — | silhouette in green |
| — | 1s | — | — | wreath in black |
| — | 1s | — | — | wreath in green |
Click the images to enlarge.
The Boucher Essay
Mr. T. Boucher, Controller of the Circulation Department, submitted this essay on 20 February 1875. It is now in the Postal Museum — reconstruction shown. The essay was made from the cut out centre of a line-engraved halfpenny stamp, pasted into a pen and ink frame.
| — | 1s | — | NL | line-engraved ½d |
In the accompanying letter, Mr. Boucher suggested an oblong stamp with the Queen’s head of the same size as the ½d stamp. He also suggested that 4d and 6d stamps should be included in addition to the original four values.
Series A Essays
Series A is a set of three essays prepared by De La Rue in horizontal format. The heads are printed from a die, cut out and pasted into hand-painted frames. All are on card with manuscript “Series A” and datestamped “24 MAR 75”. The colours are similar to the issued stamps. It is possible that there was also a 5s essay.
| A | 1d | 55 | AB | purple-brown |
| A | 3d | 55 | AB | purple-rose |
| A | 1s | 55 | AB | blue-green |
Click the images to enlarge.
Series B Essays
Series B is a set of four essays prepared by De La Rue in vertical format. The heads of the three low values are printed from a die, cut out and pasted into hand-painted frames. The head of the 5s is painted in silhouette. All are on card with manuscript “Series B” and datestamped “24 MAR 75”. The colours are similar to the issued stamps.
| B | 1d | 55 | AB | brown |
| B | 3d | 55 | AB | purple-brown |
| B | 1s | 55 | AB | deep green |
| B | 5s | 55 | AB | magenta (head in silhouette) |
Click the images to enlarge.
Approved Essays
Royal Philatelic Collection.
Reproduced by gracious permission of Her Majesty The Queen to whom copyright belongs.
A further set of four essays was submitted on 31 Mar 1875 and subsequently approved by the Postmaster General on 30 Apr 1875. As with Series A and B, these had plate number “5” and corner letters “A” and “B” and were once large cards marked “C” (later cut down and stuck on an album page). This set was part of the Sugden Collection and is now in the Royal Philatelic Collection.
| C | 1d | 55 | AB | red-brown |
| C | 3d | 55 | AB | crimson-lake |
| C | 1s | 55 | AB | green |
| C | 5s | 55 | AB | lake |