Lot# 429 - Auction 321-332
-
Lot# : 429 Sudan
1 / 11926 (May 18): Long and splendid letter from Colonel E.A. Stanton, ex Governor of Khartoum written to Dr. William Byam describing in much detail over six and half pages how he came to design the "Camel Postman" issue of Sudan. A lively letter "I was at the time second in command of the XIth Sudanese stationed at Korti a small village in the Donghola province which we had just reconquered from the Dervishes...(I was to draw) a suitable design for a new Sudan stamps to take the place of the surcharged Egyptian one...on my interview with Kitchener I was told I was to go on drawing designs until I produced one he approved of - he would give me no suggestions...it was not to include Kitchener's portrait or that of anyone else...I got hold of the sheikhs of the of our friendly arabs the Hawawir tribe and persuaded him to ride past me several times on his camel while I photographed him with a postcard sized box Kodak I had....not a success and I could not in any case have them printed in time...I had no paper and Korti possessed not a single shop leave alone a stationer...I got to work and eventually produced a fairly respectable drawing of a Colonel of the Hageen...in flowing garments holding two spears on his back and not Slatin Pasha as some have hinted....attached to the saddle were two mail bags...I added a row of coloured reductions with suggested combinations of colours such as my paintbox could produce...somewhat in fewar I presented myself on Sir H. Kitchener's return with the sketch effort No. 1 and my intense surprise he expressed his entire approval...I received a set of the stamps signed by the Sirdar (for my efforts)....not long afterwards I was asked to design stamps for "Postage Due"...*. Sold together with a photograph of the Camel Postman design (now in the Khartoum Museum); the letter is much more lively and involved than we can print here, but interestingly, the original wash drawing for the Postage Due issue will be sold by Corinphila in the "Besançon" collection of Sudan.Starting bid : 350 CHFHammer price : 1,200 CHF -
