Ethiopia 1867-1936. History, stamps and postal history

In the last few years Ethiopian philately has aroused more interest than in the previous ones and this is due to the enthusiasm of some collectors and the activity of some associations.
In this book the author has put together all the information collected from available sources adding also elements derived from his personal experience, research and discoveries.
Inter alia, he studied the postal rates of the period 1895-1936 up to the Italian invasion, a difficult task due to the difficulty in reconstructing the main rates. This is due to the scarcity of documentation and availability of covers as well as the contradictory information, which can be deduced from examination of covers.
Some of the information here reported contradicts many important catalogues. They need some revision and updating in particular as far as dates and definition of the issues are concerned. In addition, some catalogues ignore some issues which are rarely found on covers and report some issues which now are considered as fake or illegal.
There are also some outlines of Ethiopia's history so that the collector can see the link between historical facts and the reasons for new issues.
At the end of the book the appendices report hard to find information on topics such as cancellations, postal rates, sales of stamps of the early period and so on.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface - Foreword - Introduction - Colour Plates - An outline of the history of Ethiopia from Lucy to 1850 - The Emperor Tewodros and the Napier expedition (1855-1868) - The Emperors Johannes IV and Menelik II (1868-1894) - The first Ethiopian stamps and the beginning of postal activities (1894-1899) - The handstamp "ETHIOPIE" (1900-1902) - The handstamp "BOSTA" (1902) - The handstamp "MELIKT" (1903) - The handstamp "MILIKIT" (1904) - The numerals issue and the Harar provisionals (1905) - The new post offices of Dire Daoua and the two issues handstamped "Menelik" (1906) - The shutting down of the Ethiopian post and the transition period (1907) - The organization period and the admission of Ethiopia to U.P.U. (1908) - The definitive set and the new postal services (1909) - The Dire Daoua provisionals (1911) - The Coronation of Empress Zawditu and the three 1917 issues (1917) - The definitive set "Animals and Rulers" (1919) - The provisional surcharges of the years 1919-1928 - The new definitive set and the two handstamped issues - The proclamation of Ras Tafari Negus (King) (1928) - The arrival of the first Ethiopian aircraft to Addis Ababa (1929) - The death of Empress Zawditu and the Coronation of Ras Tafari as Emperor with the name of Hailé Selassié (1930) - The provisional low values and the new issue of definitives (1931) - The inauguration of the first radio station (1935) - The Italian occupation and end of the Ethiopian Empire (1936) - The use of Ethiopian cancellers by Italians (1936) - Appendix I, Identification of faked covers and postal cards - Appendix II, The cancellations - Appendix III, Postmarks and registration labels (November 1908-May 1936) - Appendix IV, The postal rates (January 1895-May 1936) - Appendix V, The period of validity of the various issues - Appendix VI, Sales of stamps and mail forwarded - Appendix VII, The evaluation of covers and postal cards - Appendix VIII, The postal organization - Appendix IX, The Ethiopian calendar and the Amharic numerals - Bibliography.