U.S. First Day Cover Cachet Display Catalog:
"Collector's Handbook" by Elmer R. Long

Part of the U.S. First Day Cover Cachet Display Catalog
by Douglas H. Henkle, AFDCS LM #137, [email protected]

(last updated .02-26-2020)

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      This page displays cover scans and one complete scan of the small, 3-5/8" x 5-3/4", stamp and First Day Cover (FDC) "Collector's Handbook" sales catalogs published from the 1930's to the 1950's by Elmer R. (Reese) Long (12-07-1911 - 7-14-1965), 511 Seneca St. (19??-1936), 203 Market St. (1936-1946)**, 112 Market St. (1946-?) in Harrisburg, PA. I own nine (9) editions. See below for a complete scan of the 28th, 1947 edition. The rest of the catalog cover scans were found on the Web. Illustrations on the catalog covers and inside the catalogs were drawn by Cachetmaker John Coulthard (9-21-1903 - 9-24-1966). Except as noted by "{A}" (my personal collection), all other displays were found on the Web.

Collector's Handbook, John Coulthard's signature on page 2 of the 28th, 1947 edition
John Coulthard's logo on page 2 of the 28th, 1947 edition, and several Handbook covers. Note, this dog appears on every catalog cover displayed below except the 7th, 1936 and 39th, 1955 editions.
Collector's Handbook, John Coulthard's signature on page 2 of the 28th, 1947 edition Collector's Handbook, John Coulthard's signature on page 2 of the 28th, 1947 edition
John Coulthard's other logos on the 18th, 1941 edition Handbook cover, and on his FDC cachet for #904 which is also used on several Handbook covers. This logo, which is used on most (if not all) of his First Day cachets, is a "bar over the letter C" (for Coulthard), and not a "letter E", as some have described it.
Elmer Long's 1961 ad in FIRST DAYS
Elmer R. Long's ad mentioning John Coulthard in FIRST DAYS #34, 7(1), 9-10/1961, page 47.
Elmer R. Long's bookplate created by John Coulthard
A bookplate label created by John Coulthard for Elmer R. Long's customers. It has glue on the back just like old stamps used to have. -- {A}
A mailing envelope with a Coulthard design used to mail (ca. 1959) a new handbook A mailing envelope with a Coulthard design used to mail (ca. 1959) a new handbook
Mailing envelopes with two different Coulthard designs used to mail new handbooks to Elmer R. Long's customers. -- {A} (ca. 1946) / (eBay) (ca. 1959)
a reply card used to update Elmer R. Long's customer list a reply card used to update Elmer R. Long's customer list a reply card used to update Elmer R. Long's customer list a reply card used to update Elmer R. Long's customer list
Two reply card notices used to update Elmer R. Long's customer list.
Elmer R. Long - 1940 Poster Stamps
Elmer R. Long - 1940 Poster Stamps.
Elmer R. Long - 1946 subscription request
Elmer R. Long - 7-01-1946 subscription request.
Elmer R. Long - ca. 1958 ad, publication ?
Elmer R. Long - ca. 1958 ad, publication ?.
Elmer R. Long - Feb. 1960 ad in the Air Post Journal Elmer R. Long - Jul. 1964 ad in the Air Post Journal
Elmer R. Long - Feb. 1960 and Jul. 1964 ads in the Air Post Journal.

First Day Cover Cachetmaker: Elmer R. Long on Scott #732 First Day Cover Cachetmaker: Elmer R. Long on Scott #C19
First Day Cover Cachetmaker: Elmer R. Long on Scott #732 (8-15-1933) and Scott #C19 (7-01-1934) -- (eBay) / (eBay).

      ** = John Coulthard created a cachet about this address change for Elmer R. Long, and Long postal mailed these cacheted envelopes to his customers during November and December of 1946. Covers below: 1) is courtesy of Naval Cover Museum: Cachet Maker John Coulthard, dated 12-06-1946, 2) is courtesy of the Wichita Stamp Club [PDF] WSC Newsletter, Vol. 79, No.11, November, 2011, p. 8-9, dated 11-30-1946, and 3) was found on eBay and the scan is too small to decipher the posted date. So far, I have been unable to find out what, if anything, he mailed inside of these envelopes. I have not personally seen any of these three envelopes.
An address change cachet by John Coulthard sent to Elmer R. Long's customers on 12-06-1946 An address change cachet by John Coulthard sent to Elmer R. Long's customers on 11-30-1946 An address change cachet by John Coulthard sent to Elmer R. Long's customers on (date unreadable)

      For more information, see the articles: 1) "California Cachet Maker: John Coulthard" by Elmer Koehler [FIRST DAYS #82, 14(5), 9-10/1969, p. 74-75], and 2) "A Study of John Coulthard, 1903-1966, Cachet Designer, Artist, Philatelist" by Clyde Carriker [American Philatelist, 98(9), 9/1984, p. 915-20]. Coulthard was member #802 of the Universal Ship Cancellation Society (USCS) [FIRST DAYS #175, 29(4), 5-15-1984, p. 548] and [#385, 55(6), 9-01-2010, p. 66-7]. For information about Long (AFDCS #2035) as a Cachetmaker, see: 3) "Artists of the Beautiful: Elmer R. Long" by Clark Heins [FIRST DAYS #168, 28(5), 7-01-1983, p. 810-11].

      Note: There is no mention of the word "cachet" on pages 52-56 of the 28th, 1947 or the 30th, 1948 editions, so the sale prices presumably must be for all uncacheted First Day Covers.

      Wanted: a 300 bpi / 600 pixel wide (or greater) .jpg scan of any Handbook cover with no year date listed, or those covers found on the Web and marked "***" which are too small to display sufficient detail. I would also like to know how many pages are in every Handbook, so that can be docuumented here.
Email it to: [email protected]
Subject for this page: Doug Henkle unlisted Elmer R. Long Handbooks
      (an email with any other subject or with any other graphical format will be ignored IF it has an attachment)

    All editions I own, "{A}", or have seen on the Web followed by their catalog cover scans:
          Scans appear below for all editions which note a year date. "nn p." = is the last numbered page before the inside back cover.
  1. 1st ed.
  2. 2nd ed.
  3. 3rd ed.
  4. 4th ed.
  5. 5th ed.
  6. 6th ed.
  7. "Collector's Handbook", 7th ed., 1936, by Elmer R. Long, 22 p. {A}
  8. 8th ed.
  9. 9th ed.
  10. 10th ed.
  11. 11th ed.
  12. 12th ed.
  13. "Collector's Handbook", 13th ed., 1938-1939, by Elmer R. Long ***
  14. 14th ed.
  15. "Collector's Handbook", 15th ed., 1940, by Elmer R. Long
  16. 16th ed.
  17. "Collector's Handbook", 17th ed., 1941, by Elmer R. Long, 56 p. {A}
  18. "Collector's Handbook", 18th ed., 1941, by Elmer R. Long
  19. 19th ed.
  20. "Collector's Handbook", 20th ed., 1940, by Elmer R. Long, 56 p. {A}
  21. 21st ed.
  22. "Collector's Handbook", 22nd ed., 1943, by Elmer R. Long
  23. "Collector's Handbook", 23rd ed., 1944, by Elmer R. Long
  24. 24th ed.
  25. 25th ed.
  26. 26th ed.
  27. 27th ed.
  28. "Collector's Handbook", 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, 56 p. {A} -- complete scan
  29. "Collector's Handbook", 29th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long ***
  30. "Collector's Handbook", 30th ed., 1948, by Elmer R. Long, 56 p. {A}
  31. "Collector's Handbook", 31st ed., 1949, by Elmer R. Long, 59? p. *** -- Smithsonian
  32. "Collector's Handbook", 32nd ed., 1949, by Elmer R. Long, 58 p. {A}
  33. "Collector's Handbook", 33rd ed., 1950, by Elmer R. Long, 58 p. {A}
  34. "Collector's Handbook", 34th ed., 1950, by Elmer R. Long ***
  35. "Collector's Handbook", 35th ed., 1951, by Elmer R. Long, 58 p. {A}
  36. "Collector's Handbook", 36th ed., 1952, by Elmer R. Long ***
  37. "Collector's Handbook", 37th ed., 1953, by Elmer R. Long
  38. "Collector's Handbook", 38th ed., 1954, by Elmer R. Long ***
  39. "Collector's Handbook", 39th ed., 1955, by Elmer R. Long, 54 p. {A}
  40. "Collector's Handbook", 40th ed., 1956, by Elmer R. Long, 50 p. {A}
  41. 41st ed.
  42. "Collector's Handbook", 42nd ed., 1958-1959, by Elmer R. Long ***
  43. 43rd ed.
  44. "Collector's Handbook", 44th ed., 1961, by Elmer R. Long ***

      As least for the covers I have seen so far, the 39th, ed., 1955 Catalog was the last original design Coulthard did for a Catalog cover. The 40th reused the 35th edition's design, the 42nd reused the 30th edition's design, and the 44th reused the 36th edition's design. However, the last original design might have been earlier, because the the 38th reused the 32nd edition's design. If you have any of the missing 21 covers I have not seen, please send a 600 pixel or larger .jpg scan of it along with how many pages are in that missing Catalog, and whether or not I can use your name as the source of the new scan. Thank you.

Collector's Handbook, 7th ed., 1936, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 13th ed., 1938-1939, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 15th ed., 1940, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 17th ed., 1941, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 18th ed., 1941, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 20th ed., 1942, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 22rd ed., 1943, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 23rd ed., 1944, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 29th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 30th ed., 1948, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 31st ed., 1949, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 32nd ed., 1949, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 33rd ed., 1950, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 34th ed., 1950, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 35th ed., 1951, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 36th ed., 1952, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 37th ed., 1953, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 38th ed., 1954, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 39th ed., 1955, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 40th ed., 1956, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 42nd ed., 1958-1959, by Elmer R. Long Collector's Handbook, 44th ed., 196, by Elmer R. Long
Complete Scan of "Collector's Handbook", 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long {A}

Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, back and front cover Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, inside front cover and page 1 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 2 and 3 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 4 and 5 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 6 and 7 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 8 and 9 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 10 and 11 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 12 and 13 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 14 and 15 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 16 and 17 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 18 and 19 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 20 and 21 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 22 and 23 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 24 and 25 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 26 and 27 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 28 and 29 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 30 and 31 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 32 and 33 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 34 and 35 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 36 and 37 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 38 and 39 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 40 and 41 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 42 and 43 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 44 and 45 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 46 and 47 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 48 and 49 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 50 and 51 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 52 and 53 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 54 and 55 Collector's Handbook, 28th ed., 1947, by Elmer R. Long, pages 56 and inside back cover
A Partial Scan of "Collector's Handbook", 30th ed., 1948, by Elmer R. Long displaying other Coulthard drawn ads not shown above. {A}
Collector's Handbook, 30th ed., 1948, by Elmer R. Long, pages 28 and 29 Collector's Handbook, 30th ed., 1948, by Elmer R. Long, pages 40 and 41 Collector's Handbook, 30th ed., 1948, by Elmer R. Long, pages 46 and 47
URL: http://www.folklib.net/fdc/bibliog/elmer-long.shtml
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Copyright 2020 by Douglas H. Henkle, [email protected]
P.O. Box 331, Ripon, WI 54971-0331