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GREAT BRITAIN - Stanley Gibbons Great Britain Concise 2010

Published by Stanley Gibbons. 354pp. Colour. English

Inc FDCs, miniature sheets, booklets, PHQ cards, presentation packs, regionals, postage dues, officials, gutter pairs, yearbooks, fiscals, Generic Smilers sheets, stamps on cover, telegraphs, watermark and imperforate errors, missing colours and embossing, specimen overprints up to 1952, Fast Stamps, postage labels, design index

Philatelic Exporter review, courtesy of David Rennie (August 2010):

This is the catalogue of choice of many GB collectors, and following the success of last years restyling, (see Exporter June 2009), this is now produced either as a paperback with "lie-flat" binding, or as an hardcover.

The latest issues to March 2010 are now included, and the Design Index has been updated.

With this edition coinciding with the London 2010 international, the publishers have been particularly keen to update their prices, and to include a range of newly discovered varieties particularly in the modern commemorative issues.

There are some significant editorial changes to make life easier for the collector.

All Specimen and Official stamps are now listed with their respective main issues, and the separate sections at the back for these disappear.

The small format Decimal Machin issues have been pulled out of the main chronological listing (but retaining the existing numbering), and now have their own separate section, which includes an Index, Multi-value Coil Index, Booklet Pane Guide and an Elliptical Perforations Index.

There is an informative and well illustrated article "The Telegraphic Use of Great Britain Postage Stamps" by Andrew Higson and Steve Hiscocks. In 1876 specific Post Office Telegraph stamps were issued, and were used for about five years. These have always been listed in the GB Specialised but are now included in the Concise in a special section with a straight forward but detailed priced listing.

With over 350pp, this still remains excellent value, and really no self-respecting GB collector or dealer should be without it.