United States Stamp Society
   

Durland Committee

Chairperson
Wallace Cleland
1710 University Ave.
Madison, WI  53726
                             
            Chairperson
            Kim D. Johnson
            1905 Stratford Drive
            Champaign, IL  61821
                             
Chairperson
John L. Larson
1105 Baytowne Drive, Apt #22
Champaign, IL  61822
                             


2007 Annual Board Meeting Committee Report

The Durland is being reformatted for the 2008 edition and will be 8.5 x 11 inches in size.  Len Piszkiewicz and Wallace Cleland have been working together on it and have been adding new information and many more illustrations.  The regular postage section is now complete up to 1981 (Scott #1843, pages 1-158).  The focus has now switched to the back of the book, which will be completed before returning to the more recent postage issues.  The Airmail section is finished, and by the time of the Dallas meeting Len will have made further progress.  The book should certainly be ready by the projected issue date in 2008.

Terry Scott and John Larson are going to submit copy for the Test Stamp section, while Wallace has expanded the coverage of Beer Stamps and other Taxpaids.  The AMG stamp section will be expanded, illustrated and priced.  For the post 1981 postage section, Kim Johnson, Jim Cochrane, Alan Thomson and Chet Chapman will be involved.

The 2008 edition should be a major advance over previous editions and hopefully a way can be found to advertise it as was done with the Encyclopedia.  If so, a print order of 2000 copies would make sense.


2006 Annual Board Meeting Committee Report

The 2005 edition of the Durland Standard Plate Number Catalog should have been issued in 2003, but the illness of Kim Johnson delayed things.  Wallace Cleland got Kim to send him the text of the catalog on a CD and he finished up the editing and is responsible for any errors.  The Coordinators who contribute to the Plate Number Report were all consulted about listings and pricing in their areas.  The final version was sent to Len Piszkiewicz, who put it in final form for the printer, inserted all of the illustrations and designed the cover.  With the entire book submitted electronically, printing was inexpensive.  We printed 2000 books at a cost of $4.25 each before shipping.  Dave Sugar will know what we paid for shipping and mailing individual copies and how many we have sold to date.  He will also know what we paid Len for his work.  With these figures in hand, the profit per book can be calculated.

The next edition is tentatively planned for 2008 with Len again doing the final production.  He will need updated software, since PageMaker (the program we have been using) is no longer state of the art and soon will not be supported by the printer, and he estimates $675 will do it.  As for the Editors, Kim Johnson is still ill and unlikely to be able to contribute.  Wallace Cleland is willing to be the Editor, with assistance from the Coordinators who contribute to the Plate Number Report (Jim Cochrane, Alan Thomson, Chet Chapman, John Larson).

It has been tentatively decided to print the catalog in the larger 8.5 x 11" size with three columns rather than two on a page.  This reformatting will allow the insertion of more illustrations and other reformatting which was not practical in the present format without complete disruption of pages.  The Board needs to approve this change in format, as well as the assignment of Wallace and Len to produce the catalog.  Len needs to start now on the reformatting process if the new edition is to be issued in 2008.



 
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