A Taxonomy of Star Cancellations
I am happy to announce the recent publication of A Taxonomy of Star Cancellations. Covering all known star cancellations designs used in the United States, this almost 500 page PDF e-book has a wealth of information about them including the towns where they were used, the color inks in which they were cancelled, and dates of usage. The hundreds of high quality images makes for fun browsing and provides great illustration of their usage.
The e-book is divided into two main parts. The first part contains all the various star cancellation designs. Each design has a clear image illustrating the star cancel. Additionally, there is an index listing all the the different ink colors and towns where the star cancel was used. The e-book has hyperlinks, so clicking on one of the towns takes you directly to its town listing (next part).
The second part of the e-book is organized according to towns. Separate sections are used for each state, with the towns listed alphabetically, and then by design type and ink color, if necessary. Additionally, dates of usage are provided where known. If no specific dates are known, the decade(s) of use is listed instead. Every page in this part of the e-book also has at least one image of a cover who cancel is listed on that page. Hyperlinks for each item jump back to the corresponding type listing.
Producing a work such as this requires tremendous effort. It is not my desire to make money from it, and, as such, I am not demanding payment for it. However, in an idea similar to shareware software, I hope that if you find the e-book and/or website to be a useful resource, you will donate money to help defray the costs of publishing the e-book and maintaining the website. A suggested donation of $25 would be much appreciated. This is far less than other comparable philatelic works. Anyone making a donation of $25 or more will be given a premium membership to the website, which will include additional information such as pricing and the ability to browse images of covers for each listing.
