GBLA in the American Philatelist
Peter Valdner (2025)
The American Philatelist is currently the most prestigious philatelic monthly magazine. It has been published since 1887 and is available free of charge to members of the APS.
It is every prominent author's dream to have an article published in it. I never had such an ambition, but when Muhammad didn't come to the mountain, the mountain came to him. The editor-in-chief, knowing about my publishing activities, approached me with a request to write an article about the Great Bitter Lake Association. It has been published in the May 2025 issue, on pages 44 to 49.
Readers of this blog can, of course, learn much more about the GBLA here, but if you don’t have time to read more than 20 articles, this piece contains almost everything essential — it includes stamps and covers by Captain Kudrna, a cover by Captain Benda, the 1968 GBLA Olympic Games, the 1972 rescue mission, linoprints by Marian Kasprzyk, imitations by Dr. Zappala, covers from R. Hornby, a decorated envelope from a German philatelist requesting GBLA stamps, and of course, a link to the GBLA Encyclopedia and Stamp Catalogue.
The only significant thing missing from the article are the encyclopedic data and valuations of the stamps and other collectible artifacts from the GBLA. These can be found in the book about the GBLA. Its English version has over 330 pages — which simply cannot fit into a six-page article.
Sources: Internet and the author’s archive
To contact the author: valdpete@yahoo.com
