Dark Colours

The booklets of King George VI continued on from the 2s, 3s, and 5s series of King Edward VIII. The Royal Cypher on the front cover was changed from to EviiiR to GviR, and the stamps were updated to those of the new reign in the original dark colours. The composition was otherwise unchanged.

Stamps in the dark colours were issued starting in May 1937, and the first booklets containing these stamps were issued in Aug 1937.

A new cover designed by Barnett Freedman was introduced in Apr 1938. Several essays and proofs exist for this design which replaced the Royal Cypher by a circular GPO Emblem.

The minimum inland letter rate increased from 1½d to 2½d in 1940, and the 2s, 3s, and 5s booklets were replaced by two new booklets, 2s6d and 5s (Series 7 and 8). The new 2s6d booklet was to be green and the 5s buff, but the first 2s6d booklets were printed on the remaining red and blue card from the 2s and 3s to avoid waste.

Covers with the Royal Cypher

2s Booklet Series 4: BD11

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Editions 386-398: have an air mail pane after the front cover, or after the first stamp pane.
Edition 399 onwards: have an extra interleaf at back.
Edition 404: has a Ford’s Blotter after the front cover.

* These editions are known bound with staples.

A missewn booklet, given new covers and stapled so that stitch holes are present in the contents but not in the covers, and an Advertisers Voucher Copy dated 16 Sep 1937, cancelled Type 33P.

3s Booklet Series 3: BD21

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Editions 333-338: have an air mail pane after the front cover, or after the first stamp pane.
Edition 343: has a Ford’s Blotter after the front cover.

* These editions are known bound with staples.

A missewn booklet, given new covers and stapled so that stitch holes are present in the contents but not in the covers, and an Advertisers Voucher Copy dated 12 Oct 1937, cancelled Type 33P.

5s Booklet Series 5: BD23

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Edition 18: has an air mail pane after the first stamp pane.

* These editions are known bound with staples.

Covers with the GPO Emblem

Essays were submitted for a new cover design in July 1937. MacDonald Gill submitted three handpainted cards with pasted adverts cut from issued covers. They were rejected. Barnett Freedman submitted covers with the Royal Cypher replaced by the Post Office emblem. These were followed by a rough proof on 21 Jan 1938 and machine proofs on 8 Feb 1938. Freedman’s proofs were based on KEVIII booklet editions 373, 328, and 16.

MacDonald Gill essays.

Barnett Freedman machine proofs.

Barnett Freedman rough sketch and rough proof.

2s Booklet Series 4: BD12

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Editions 433, 454, 468, 476, 496, 498: have a Ford’s Blotter after the front cover.
Edition 454: exists bound in error with two front covers.
Edition 481: all adverts are for W. B. Cartwright.
Editions 504-508: are undated.

* These editions are known bound with staples.



An Advertisers Voucher Copy dated 1 Aug 1939, cancelled Type 33P.

3s Booklet Series 3: BD22

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Editions 347, 360, 366: have a Ford’s Blotter after the front cover.
Editions 367, 368: have a Dubarry advert after the front cover.
Editions 349, 368: are undated.

* These editions are known bound with staples.



An Advertisers Voucher Copy dated 21 Apr 1938, cancelled Type 33P.

5s Booklet Series 5: BD24

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Edition 21: exists overprinted Specimen Type 32.
Edition 29:part of the edition has unglazed covers.

* These editions are known bound with staples.

A missewn booklet, given new covers and stapled so that stitch holes are present in the contents but not in the covers, and an Advertisers Voucher Copy dated 31 May 1938, cancelled Type 33P.

Series 7 and 8

In 1940, when the minimum inland letter rate increased from 1½d to 2½d, the 2s, 3s, and 5s booklets (Series 4, 3, and 5) were replaced by two new booklets, 2s6d and 5s (Series 7 and 8).

After the increase, booklets from the earlier series were sold with the Postage Rates crossed out. This example also shows the interleaf number “7 28 5/-” (interleaf 7, edition 28, value 5/-).

2s6d Booklet Series 7: BD13

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Edition 1: exists overprinted Specimen Type 23.
Edition 8: part of the edition in red covers, part in blue.

Advertisers Voucher Copies dated 5 Aug 1940 and 27 Aug 1940, cancelled Type 33P.

2s6d Booklet Series 7: BD14

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Edition 8: exists overprinted Specimen Type 23.
Edition 8: part of the edition in red covers, part in blue.
Edition 12: has a Ford’s Blotter after the front cover.

Advertisers Voucher Copies dated 4 Sep 1940 and 21 Sep 1940, cancelled Type 33P.

2s6d Booklet Series 7: BD15

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Edition 14: exists overprinted Specimen Type 30.
Editions 14, 16, 17, 23, 26, 30: have a Ford’s Blotter after the front cover.
Editions 76 onwards: have a date at the foot of the back cover.
Editions 76 onwards: the first and last interleaves were omitted.

5s Booklet Series 8: BD25

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Edition 2 onwards: the last interleaf was omitted.
Editions 11 & 13 onwards: the first interleaf was omitted.
Editions 13 onwards: have a date at the foot of the back cover.
Edition 16: part of the edition with Pale Colour stamps is listed as BD26.

* These editions are known bound with staples.

A missewn booklet, given a new back cover and stapled, unusually keeping the front cover and stitches.



An Advertisers Voucher Copy dated 16 Jun 1941, cancelled Type 33P.

Booklet Panes

Booklet panes of six were printed in photogravure using double cylinders (no-dot and dot sheets), and some from Oct 1938 to Jan 1943 using single sheet cylinders (no-dot only), each sheet having 240 stamps arranged as 20 upright booklet panes, and 20 inverted. Cancellations are equally likely to be found on upright or inverted panes, unless otherwise noted.

Sheets were perforated using the same machines as the previous reign, the vertical machine producing B3(I) and B3A(P), and the horizontal machines giving B4(E), B4A(I) and B4B(E).

Watermark GviR.

QB23 with cylinder number incorrectly positioned, G29 (9 & 12).

Edition numbers are shown in parenthesis after the description,
those with a “#” sign are printed on the advert label.

To see all advert panes click here.

Adverts & Interleaves

This section gives a summary of adverts and interleaves, showing only a few examples. More can be found here: Dubarry, Ford, Air Mail Labels.

All Dark Colours booklets, with the exception of the machine vended booklets, had adverts on the front and back covers, and on the interleaves. Most notable were adverts by Dubarry which were printed in full colour on glazed card inserts, and included in two editions of the 3s booklet.

Dubarry also had black and white adverts on the inside of the front cover of some booklets, but not in any booklet that had a coloured advert. Note that the company name on the second advert below is “Laking” but the product and the company address at 58A Brompton Road are Dubarry’s.

A sample of Ford’s blotting paper was included after the front cover in seven 2s booklets, seven 2s6d booklets, and four 3s booklets. Ford also had adverts on the backs of two 2s booklets and two 3s booklets.

An air mail pane was included in booklets up to Nov 1937 (booklet covers with Royal Cypher only). All were the same design.

An advert for Treloar Carpets was included in BD11 edition 412 which had rough images of stamps from five reigns (although the text said “Famous for Carpets for 6 reigns”). The images were incomplete to meet Post Office guidelines.

Next: KGVI Pale Colours