Below is a list of Zeppelin Philatelic Reference Literature that we currently have available.
Most of these books are regular stock items, but some are available
in limited quantities. As an example, the total printing of my
Illinois Post Offices book was 418 copies. More than two-thirds
of those have been sold since it was published in February, 1996,
and I do not plan to reprint it. Such limited-edition titles are
often difficult to obtain once the original printing is sold out.
PUBLISHERS: If you have any reference literature that you would
like to make available through this page, please email 
mehrer@postal-history.com , call or write
to discuss terms.
DEALERS: If you would like to stock any of the literature that
we publish (those showing Jim Mehrer as the author), we give generous
wholesale discounts at low quantities.
Email mehrer@postal-history.com,
call or write for details.
ALL BOOKS ARE PRICED POSTPAID IN U.S.
INTERNATIONAL ORDERS: Due to the restructuring of the international postal rates which took effect in January, 2001, we must ask that you email us before ordering. In most cases, we add a charge of 20% to your total to provide for additional shipping costs. However, in some cases, the amount required for postage exceeds the 20% that we usually charge.
ILLINOIS RESIDENTS: Add 7% state sales tax to your order.
We do not accept CHARGE CARDS, and HERE'S WHY: Card companies would take about 5 percent off the top of whatever we sold. We don't feel like giving it to them, and we would rather not raise all of our prices just for the sake of handling charge cards. (Before you write and tell us that we can negotiate a better deal than 5 percent, we know that. But whether it's 3 or 4 or 5 percent, we still don't feel like raising the prices to "cover" it, as they say.) We were accepting payments through an online payment service for awhile, but then they started charging for their services, too. Maybe things will change someday.
We regret that we're unable to send "bill with" orders, but that just adds to the paperwork, and we've got plenty to do without the extra load. Exceptions: If you're a long-time customer of ours, and you're experiencing some kind of major "reference literature emergency" that won't allow you to wait a couple of extra days, give us a phone call (309 / 786-6539) and we'll discuss the possibilities.
Zeppelinpost LZ129 HINDENBURG. (John Duggan/2004): If you collect or wish to exhibit "Hindenburg" mail, this handbook is a "MUST". Without the information contained in this publication you will not be able to do justice to your collection.
In no other catalogue will you find a completely accurate listing and illustration of on-board cancels used on the North Atlantic route. Then, to be able to understand the operation of the post office, you will need access to the Reichspost instructions, presented here in translation.
Only here will you be able to see precisely which flights involved Colonel Udet's attempts to attach his small aircraft to the "Hindenburg" whilst both were in flight. Existing catalogs fail to identify some flights where log book evidence, quoted here, correctly identifies these experiments. Equally, they have traditionally labelled at least one flight as a "Udet" flight when the evidence is, at best, questionable.
Missing from many otherwise impressive "Hindenburg" collections are examples of mail posted after the airship's departure and flown by Deutsche Lufthansa's fast mail planes to meet up later with the "Hindenburg" en route to South America. This was a key aspect of the service and needs to be featured in any aspiring exhibit. The information necessary to identify such material has never been included in the standard catalogs, but now, for the first time, it is available here in this book.
There are numerous illustrations of rare and unusual acceptances (e.g. a "Guantanamo Bay" item on the 1st North American Flight) and a check list of "foreign" acceptances. Included is identification of South American acceptances whose very existence has not been recognized hitherto.
Also useful will be English language translations of the 8 propaganda leaflets flown on the March 1936 Propaganda flight whilst translations of all German Post Office regulations will also assist with writing-up a collection.
A most thorough analysis of 1937 "Crash" mail is included as are a list and illustration of many forgeries.
In short, if you want to make the most of your collection,
you will need this book. (256 pages; softbound.) #750402. $36.00.
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LZ129 HINDENBURG - The Complete Story. (John Duggan/2002): For the airship historian and enthusiast, this book will provide a mass of information and numerous illustrations, much of which has never even been attempted before.
For the Zeppelin mail collector, this background data will prove valuable when the collector comes to write-up his collection. For example, the weights of mail carried on each flight and recorded in the original flight log books are noted here. That these weights should vary between 1,060 kg and just 2 kg will go a long way to explaining relative scarcities of mail and such information, properly introduced into a write-up, can enhance the operational story. Additionally, the collector is provided with full details of each flight route and timings which identify, for example, where routes, destinations and time taken to complete the flight had an impact on the service. A list of crew members can be useful for identifying on-board mail.
The book contains a step-by-step description of the airship's construction and a full description of its test, intercontinental and propaganda flights, embodying never previously analyses by Syndicato Condor. There is an in-depth financial analysis of the North Atlantic service which suggests that 1937 could have been a profitable year for the DZR. The 1937 crash is fully described and analysed and some never previously published analyses are published here.
"More revations-per-minute than any airship book these tired old eyes have absorbed in many years..The definitive "Hindenburg" history of our time, a book that is light years ahead of anything that has ever been done before"- Dennis Kromm, Dirigible, Summer 2002
"This is the book that gives one the depth of understanding and appreciation of the Hindenburg airship itself. It is a must for every aviation historian and aerophilatelist." Jim Graue, Air|Post Journal, August 2002
(290 pages; softbound.) #750403. $51.00.
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Deutsche Lufthansa - South Atlantic Service 1934-1939. (John
Duggan & James W.Graue/2000): A complete listing of all trans-Atlantic
and connecting flights with comprehensive details of all delayed
flights, flight records, diverted flights, crashes and "ocean
landings." Valuations. Extensively illustrated. Such information
is not available in any other published work. This book enables
you to identify covers which were really flown on the Zeppelin
service and those which were not. Often only the date of the flight
cachet will indicate this. (240 pages; softbound.) #750404. $46.00.
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Graf Zeppelin to the Balkans. (John Duggan/2000): A very detailed analysis of the mail of this major and philatelically-complicated flight of 1929. Includes a flight route map, description of the flight, crew list, German postal regulations. Profusely illustrated. (48 pages; softbound.) #750405. $18.00.
Olympia Fahrt 1936. (John Duggan/2000): The philatelic story of the 1936 Olympic Games. As well as describing and depicting the mail (including rare acceptances from Treaty States), the book illustrates menus, wine cards, passenger and crew lists, passenger ticket and advertisements from Lufthansa and American Airlines. Photos of the Hindenburg over Berlin. English and German text. (48 pages; softbound.) #750406. $18.00.
Graf Zeppelin in Austria. (John Duggan/2003): The background story and political implications of the 1929 and 1931 Graf Zeppelin flights to Austria, with an analysis and valuation of the mail carried. Crew and passenger lists and full details of the routes followed, with maps. (80 pages; softbound.) #750407. $20.00.
SET of THREE TITLES ABOVE (SAVE $12
off individual pricing): #750408. $44.00.
INTERNATIONAL ORDERS: Due to the restructuring of the international postal rates which took effect in January, 2001, we must ask that you email us before ordering. In most cases, we add a charge of 20% to your total to provide for additional shipping costs. However, in some cases, the amount required for postage exceeds the 20% that we usually charge.
©2005 Jim Mehrer. REPRODUCTION OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS
PAGE, IN PART OR WHOLE, IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED.