New Book on U.S. 20th Century Postal History — ‘Prexie Era’

The American Philatelic Society has just published Prexie Era: Postal History and Stamp Production, 1938–1962, a book highlighting 20th century U.S. postal history. Its focus is on stamp production, domestic rates and postal uses, as well as the changes of international mail routes, delays, and rates shaped by historical events of World War II.

Louis Fiset, who edits and publishes the quarterly newsletter, The Prexie Era, and has written and exhibited widely on the postal history of the period, has compiled 15 essays written by nine experts in the field. Their extensive knowledge and passion for their subject are well known to both collectors and exhibitors.

This will be the first major book on the subject since Bill Helbock’s 1988 tome, Prexie Postal History, and Roland Rustad’s The Prexies, in 1994. Rather than repeat information readily available, information in this volume focuses on a time period when the Prexies were in current use rather than on the Prexie series, exclusively. The Prexie era offers rich opportunities for collecting mail generated during times of explosive change, such as wartime crises and expanded airmail service. Stamps throughout the era contribute.

Topics included in the essays are diverse and range from Albert “Chip” Briggs’s two essays on production and uses of the 3-cent Jefferson stamp to Ralph Nafziger’s World War II censorship of first-day covers. Stephen L. Suffet concludes this volume with a provocative essay arguing why the Prexie era should end in 1962.

Prexie Era: Postal History and Stamp Production, 1938–1962 is in soft cover, 8.5 inches by 11 inches, 276 pages, with 407 full-color philatelic illustrations, seven tables, bibliography with 102 references, and index. It is available on the APS website, $39 to APS members and $43 to non-members (shipping not included).

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