(wm-pcp) In mid-October, this new publication was among the works that the Global Philatelic Network presented to the public in a vernissage during the HAFNIA 2024 in Copenhagen. Starting with this work was an obvious choice, because Hørlick (1963-2021) was a Danish philatelist. Although he collected Commonwealth material in general, his particular preference was for postal stationery from Nigeria, Cameroon and Sudan. This was also reflected in his writing, as the Royal Philatelic Society London published his book ‘The Postal Stationery of Nigeria’ posthumously in 2023. The work was one of six publications nominated for the 2023 Crawford Literary Prize. His wife Jane Hørlick Thomsen and daughter Mette accepted the nomination certificate at the time, just as both were now present in Copenhagen during the first presentation of the book.
His Nigeria postal stationery collection (128 sheets) even won gold at the 2010 London Großvermeil, and his Sudan collection won gold at the 2022 London Großvermeil. He only exhibited Cameroon nationally once, in 2016. The book contains excerpts from all three collections. For Nigeria, he covers the period up to 1953, with the respective postal stationery types, not only for Lagos, Oil Rivers, Niger Coast Protectorate, Niger Company Territories and Southern Nigeria, although these remain manageable. But he was very good at showing specialities, for example specimens, printing proofs, even essays or postcards overprinted ‘British Protectorate Oil Rivers’ or numerous registered postal stationery items. Around 70 pages from his Nigeria collection alone are shown. He impressively covered the period from 1879 to 1950 with this collection. The British Postal Order cards from Nigeria are unusual and, due to their value stamp, also count as postal stationery.
Excerpts from his Cameroon collection take up 25 pages in this book (out of 80 in his collection). They reflect the turbulent times and the traces left by various colonial powers in the country since 1897 (the German Empire, France and the British). It was not until 1960 that both Nigeria and Cameroon became independent states. Hørlick’s collection contains great rarities, especially with regard to postal stationery from the British occupation period, and it is not uncommon to find the note ‘Only two used copies known’. Even unique specimens are not sought in vain.
The book devotes a further 25 pages to Sudanese postal stationery – also represented in his collection by 80 pages – which is given a level of specialisation comparable to that of the other areas. All in all, the book presents exactly what a potentially interested collector is missing: valuable illustrative material, knowledgeable descriptions and classifications, and the knowledge that is virtually non-existent due to a lack of literature. The three parts are more than just ‘appetisers’; they whet the appetite for further research.
Short info: Format 25.5 x 34 cm, 132 pages, art paper, colour illustrations, hardcover with gold embossing on the title and spine, plus additional dust jacket, retail price: 79 euros plus shipping costs. Available from: Heinrich Köhler Auktionshaus GmbH & Co. KG, Hasengartenstraße 25, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany, FON +49 (0) 611 34 14 90, E-Mail: info@heinrich-koehler.de
Translated with DeepL (www.deepl.com)
