The Encyclopedia of Postage Stamps of Algeria
(l’Encyclopédie du timbre-poste d’Algérie).

   Published in six volumes by the Ministère de la Poste et des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication on July 5 2007.

   The publication date coincided with the 45th anniversary of the country’s independence.

   The Encyclopedia comprises six volumes of superior quality, beautifully presented in a case with gold lettering, and is in four languages – Arabic, French, English, and Spanish – is richly illustrated and, in keeping with the times, comes complete with an interactive DVD-Rom.

   Published on the recommendation of the President of the Republic, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who authored the preface, this exquisite work offers a full-colour, chronological inventory of every Algerian stamp issued from 1924 to 2006.

   The first volume provides a general history of Algeria and its stamps, including of course the 1+9, the first postage stamp to have been issued after Algeria gained independence. It also contains the biographies of the different ministers who served as head of the PTT (post and telecommunications) and of the artists who designed the Algerian stamps.

   Through a clear, well-balanced and colourful use of text and imagery, the remaining five volumes showcase more than 1100 stamps released by the Algerian post office along with technical details and the original text of the first day of issue, opening as many windows on Algeria, its flora and fauna, its cultural heritage and the milestones that have defined the life experience of its people.

   It is a colourful patchwork of accessible and living insights into their technological, historical and social accomplishments.

   The last part of the sixth volume covers the stamps issued during the period of colonisation from 1924 to 1958 – a philatelic work that tells its own story of the propagandist French colonial enterprise.

   The illustrations, which have been reproduced with great care in these 1987 pages, are sustaining and original : lithographs, ancient and recent photos make up an outstanding panorama that is a befitting reflection of the rich years of history they recount.

   Whether or not the word ‘encyclopedia’ is the best one to describe this work, the publication is a significant reference tool for both beginning and experienced collectors.    3000 copies were printed but it is not for general sale.

   To mark the publication of the Encyclopedia, Algérie Poste issued on November 1 2007 this postage stamp designed by Lyès Bouakkaz.

   Source : Philatelic Exporter Février 2008 Page 44
   Par Ali Ahmed Mohamed Achour