Straightline, Fancy & Unusual Cancels & Handstamps
on Confederate General Issue Stamps

Conrad L. Bush

The writings by General Conrad L. Bush CSA started many years ago with his articles in various journals of laboratory medicine. Since his retirement, he has written over thirty five articles for the Confederate Philatelist, the American Philatelst, Scott's Stamp Monthly and other philatelic publications.

Many writings are "out of date" by the time they are published. That also may be true of this book. An earlier date may be discovered for a stamp or cover usage, or the finding of a hoard of what was thought to be a "rare" stamp may now place it into the "scarce" category. Every effort has been taken to make this book as "up to date" as possible.

Table of Contents

Straightline Cancels Introduction -- Straightline Cancels -- Goodson, Virginia -- Jackson, Mississippi

Hatchechubbee, Alabama -- Tupelo, Mississippi -- Tyner, Tennessee -- Tawboro, North Carolina

Kernersville, North Carolina -- Bath Alum, Virginia -- Montpelier, Virginia -- Raven's Nest, Virginia

Milledgeville, Georgia -- Misc. S/L town marks -- Chart of General Issues with S/L Cancels

Unusual Military Cancels -- Straightline, ARMY of TENN -- Straightline, BIG SHANTY

Chicamauga, Georgia -- Camp Shenandoah, Virginia -- Handstamp "PAID"

Pensacola & Warrington, Florida -- Chattanooga, Tennessee -- Unusual Cancels; Introduction

Fancy Cancels -- Tuscaloosa Alabama Star -- Abingdon, Virginia Flower

Mount Crawford, Virginia Crossroads -- Camden, Mississippi Cross

Caseyville, Mississippi Four Point Negative Star

Other Stars -- Faison's Depot, North Carolina Double Circle of Wedges

Ridgeway, North Carolina Split Wedges -- Harrisonburg, Virginia Circle of Wedges

Patterson, North Carolina Fancy Paid 10 -- New Peoria, Louisiana Box of Squares

Greensborough, North Carolina Squares -- Canton, Mississippi, Diamonds

Lyons, Texas, target in a box -- Unusual Cancels, Introduction -- Grids

Targets -- Double Rim Cancels -- Rimless Cancels -- Stars in the Cancel

Date on the Rim Cancel -- Mixed Type Fonts -- Welaka, Florida -- Balloon Cancels

Handstamps, Introduction -- Confederate Handstamps -- Union Handstamps

Bibliography and a Comprehensive Appendix

The book was published in November 1997 and has been acclaimed as the definitive work on this subject. THIS IS WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE BOOK:

  • "A fine work and will be happy to add it to my library" -- Texas
  • "The book is great and represents the definitive work on these markings" -- Virginia
  • "Well done and interesting" -- Alabama
  • "A very good reference source" -- Colorado
  • "An excellent job of presenting this rather difficult subject" -- Texas
  • "What a wonderful book" -- Tennessee
  • "Your book arrived and it is a truly great work" -- North Carlolina
  • "Your objectivity and unbiased coverage of a difficult subject is great" -- Arizona
  • "A wonderful book on a subject that needed to be expanded and written about" -- New Hampshire
  • "This is a great book, you have done a very nice job in moving from one area of fancy cancels to another" -- North Carolina
  • "It would be hard to believe that this book would not be in every library belonging to people who collect Confederate stamps & postal history" -- Florida

This publishing has been limited to 500 COPIES. The book is currently long out-of-print, but copies can occasionally still be found for sale on the secondary market such as E-Bay.



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