



Produced by Simon Gardner, Sankar Viswanathan, Adrian
Mastronardi, The Philatelic Digital Library Project at
http://www.tpdlp.net, and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net








                        GAMBIA

                          BY
                   FRED J. MELVILLE,

                PRESIDENT OF THE JUNIOR
                  PHILATELIC SOCIETY.

              MDCCCCIX--PUBLISHED--BY--THE
                MELVILLE--STAMP--BOOKS,
              47,--STRAND,--LONDON,--W.C.

       *       *       *       *       *

[page 7]




INTRODUCTORY NOTE.


In collecting the stamps of Gambia one cannot too strongly emphasise
the necessity for guarding the stamps of the "Cameo" series against
deterioration by the pressure of the leaves in an ordinary unprotected
album. In their pristine state with clear and bold embossing these
stamps are of exceptional grace and beauty. Sunk mounts or other
similar contrivances, and a liberal use of tissue paper, should be
utilised by the collector who desires to retain his specimens in their
original state. A neat strip of card affixed to each side of the page
in an ordinary album will have the effect of keeping the pages above
from flattening out the embossing, but tissue paper should be used as
an additional safeguard.

We have to express thanks to Mr. Douglas Ellis, Vice-President of the
Junior Philatelic Society, for his notes on the postmarks--of which
he has made a special study--and also for the loan of his entire
collection of the stamps of Gambia for reference and illustration;
to Mr. H. H. Harland for a similar courtesy in the loan of his
collection; to Mr. W. H. Peckitt for the loan of stamps for
illustration; to Mr. D. B. Armstrong for interesting notes on
the postal affairs of the Colony; and to Mr. S. R. Turner for his
diagrams.

To the first two gentlemen we are also indebted for their kindness in
undertaking the revision of the proofs of this handbook.

[page 8]




TABLE OF CONTENTS.


INTRODUCTORY NOTE,                              7

          CHAPTER I.
THE COLONY AND ITS POSTS,                      11

          CHAPTER II.
CAMEO ISSUE OF 1869,                           16

          CHAPTER III.
ISSUE OF 1874,                                 20

          CHAPTER IV.
ISSUE OF 1880,                                 25

          CHAPTER V.
ISSUE OF 1886-87,                              37

          CHAPTER VI.
QUEEN'S HEAD SERIES, 1898,                     45

          CHAPTER VII.
KING'S HEAD SERIES, 1902-1906,                 50

          CHAPTER VIII.
PROVISIONAL ISSUE, 1906,                       53

          CHAPTER IX.
BIBLIOGRAPHY,                                  56

          CHAPTER X.
CHECK LIST,                                    58

          APPENDIX.
NOTES ON THE POSTMARKS, by Douglas Ellis,      66

[page 11]




GAMBIA.




CHAPTER I.

The Colony and Its Posts.


The British West African possession known as the Colony and
Protectorate of the Gambia occupies a narrow strip of territory
(averaging 12 miles in width) on both sides of the Gambia river.
The territory comprises the settlement of St. Mary, where the
capital--Bathurst--is situated, British Cambo, Albreda, M'Carthy's
Island and the Ceded Mile, a protectorate over a narrow band of land
extending from Cape St. Mary for over 250 miles along both banks of
the river.

The Gambia river was discovered by a Portuguese navigator in 1447;
under a charter of Queen Elizabeth a company was formed to trade with
the Gambia in 1588. In the reign of James II. a fort was erected by
British traders at the mouth of the river (1686), and for many years
their only traffic was in slaves. The territory became recognised as a
British possession under the Treaty of Versailles, and on the enforced
liquidation of the chartered company it [page 12] was incorporated
with the Crown as one of the West African settlements. Until 1843,
when it was granted separate government, it was administered by the
Governor of Sierra Leone. In 1868 it was again annexed to Sierra
Leone, and not until twenty years later was it created a separate
Crown Colony with a Governor and responsible government of its own. At
present the staple trade of the Colony is ground nuts, but efforts are
being made to induce the natives to take up other products.

Postally there is little to record prior to 1866, which is the date
ascribed by Mr. F. Bisset Archer, Treasurer and Postmaster-General,
to an alteration in the scale of postage, the half ounce weight for
letters being introduced. The rate to Great Britain was, we believe,
from that date 6d. per half ounce.

Mr. Archer also gives this year (1866) as the date when the first
postage stamps of the Colony were issued. This date was for a time
accepted in the stamp catalogues, but it is now generally believed to
be an error, the earliest records in the stamp journals of the period
shewing the date to be 1869.

The postal notices we have been able to trace are of but little
interest, the following being all that