Air Mail Magazine for 1939. Vol. 1 Nos. 1 - 10, Page 1 - 200. Green Lists Nos. 304 - 373.
Published by A. Phillips, Air Mail Specialist, Newport.
1939
Hardcover in decorated green cloth, [200pp + 5pp adverts]. Small unobtrusive blotch of white paint on lower end of spine. Includes an invoice 'on approval' from the magazine's publisher, A. Phillips, dated July 1940 sent to a "G A Perring" [collector George Alfred Carey Perring (1900-1976)] of Dartmouth.
This bound volume of 'Air Mail Magazine' covers March to December 1939, retaining the original green magazine covers. It covers the outbreak of World War II: "It is a sad commentary on our civilisation that we cannot live in peace, but there can be no justifiable voice raised against the action of Great Britain and France in its noble aim to combat the horror of Nazism. (...) In times such as these our hobby can serve in more ways than one. With darkened nights and the knowledge that we are safer at home than abroad, our collections can do much to give us the calm spirit and tranquil mind necessary to 'carry on'. (...) A few hours with our albums may well send us back to our duties with a clearer head and a surer touch."
In the inter-war years when many countries issued airmail stamps to publicise their new airmail routes, the airmail stamp heralded a new branch of stamp collecting in aerophilatelic items. Airmail stamps commonly feature aviation themes.
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