The Standard Canada Precancel Catalogue 1997

Desmond Maley is the music librarian at the J.W. Tate Library,
Huntington College, Laurentian University and editor of the Newsletter
of the Canadian Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and
Documentation Centres.

Precanceled stamps were a post-office invention of the late 1880s.
Postal authorities realized that it was much more efficient to precancel
sheets of stamps rather than canceling them one at a time on envelopes.
They were used on second-, third-, and fourth-class mail until 1977. The
first precancels consisted of bars, but towns and cities of origin were
eventually added as well as perforated initials.

This slender catalogue lists prices using the Scott Numbering System
augmented by codes to identify the different kinds of precancels. All
currently known precancels are listed and illustrated by style. But many
of the black-and-white illustrations have a faded appearance, and the
layout and design are no more than functional. The high price ensures
that only specialists will want this publication.