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The following presentation of Dr Hans-Joachim Soll’s book was copied from the BDPh website.

This book was originally based on a purely postal-history collection of German East Africa. Later, the author of the book became inspired by social philately and began examining the collection in terms of senders and recipients. Before long, letters from historically significant individuals were discovered, significantly boosting the motivation to continue the research.

In this context, the question arose as to whether and how philatelically collected mail could be used as a historical source. This certainly depends on whether the text found on the collected cards or letters provides information about the sender, their thoughts and actions, motivations, or concerns and hardships. Letters without a sender or text are socially and historically of little use, even though they may be valuable in terms of postal history. Conversely, items that are entirely insignificant from a postal-history perspective can be immensely important for social philately.

In summary, the surprising result of years of research was that 70 percent of the author’s collection could be attributed to specific individuals, and the available texts were analysed. These individuals ranged from indigenous people to governors, and their societal positions could be identified, creating a picture of colonial society in East Africa.

The book was published by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Sammler Deutscher Kolonialpostwertzeichen e.V. It features 528 pages, dimensions of 17 x 25 cm, a coated hardcover, and high-quality thread stitching. Price: €39.00 plus shipping (within Germany: €4.00, EU: €11.00, rest of the world: €19.00). It is available from Tilmann Nössig, Koppenstr. 16, 10243 Berlin, email: Geschaeftsfuehrer(at)kolonialmarken.de

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