Air Letter Cards and Aerogrammes of Bechuanaland and Botswana: A Philatelic Exhibit (Postal Stationery Bechuanaland and Botswana)

Airmail letter sheets were the child of the worldwide bloom in the interest in aviation and airmail following World War One. They were seen as an attempt to reduce the price of airmail and mail volume, particularly during World War Two. Later the Universal Postal Union introduced the term aerogrammes for these lightweight communications that became very popular among letter writers as well as postal collectorsBechuanaland and, after independence, Botswana were no exceptions. Letter sheets were introduced during World War Two as South African sheets initially without overprinting, but later with an overprint for Bechuanaland. The postwar period saw the release of aerogrammes using the current definitive stamps and following a period of stampless aerogrammes, illustrated aerogrammes of Botswana featuring aviation and the country’s nature and wildlife. By the end of the century, aerogrammes were discontinuedThis bookl illustrates the author’s philatelic exhibit of the letter sheets and aerogrammes used in Bechuanaland and Botswana. The subject is further treated in the context of the development of aviation in southern Africa and concludes with a general summary of the philately of the Bechuanaland and Botswana aerogrammesThis monograph is the third part of a series of four that details the author’s Bechuanalands and Botswana postal stationery collections. The first covered the postal orders (2021) and the second the postcards and newspaper wrap-pers (2023). The fourth volume addresses the registration envelopesPeter Thy is the editor of the Philatelic Society for Greater Southern Africa’s journal Forerunners and ia Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society of London. His main philatelic collecting and research interests are the postal history and stationery of the Bechuanalands, Madagascar, and Zanzibar Read more