Page 142 - Jarvis & Wright: Jamaica Display to RPSL

Jamaica: The Vendryes Official

Introduction to the Vendryes provisionals.
Vendryes and Co. printed both their provisional stamps – the ½d Official and the 2½d on 4d – by
letterpress printing on a hand-powered American platen printing press, the "Golding Jobber",
manufactured by the Golding Manufacturing Co., Boston. They used the No 6, the smallest size,
pictured here. The platen was only 12 inches x 8 inches.
No Post Office or printer’s records exist, but between March 1890
and (probably) December 1894 it is estimated that Vendryes
overprinted 200,000 OFFICIAL and 80,000 2½d on 4d.
The sheets of 240 stamps were cut into four panes of 60 to fit the
press. There were not enough letters to print a complete pane of
60 stamps at one impression so the type was set up in settings of
between 3 and 20 cliches for each printing. The type was fixed
into the chase, it was the platen bearing the paper which swung
upwards to print. Each pane was passed through the press once,
receiving a single strike of the setting. Then the lay holding the
paper was moved along, and all the panes passed through the
press again, and so on until all 60 impressions were made. The
type was dispersed after each printing and reassembled in a
fresh setting whenever a fresh supply was required.

Vendryes later explained that the composition of type was so
laborious that he used a small setting when small quantities were
required; it took less time to pass the panes through the press
several times than to compose a large setting. Later settings were
smaller, suggesting that another factor was a dwindling stock of
serviceable type.

He used the same thin, sans serif type for both his overprints: ‘8 line’ (probably meaning 8 point)
gothic elongated upper case by the New England Type Foundry, Boston. The type was already worn.
As expedients to make up shortages Vendryes borrowed some letters, using lower case l in place of
upper case I and the figure 0 in place of the letter O. He cut others, including cut R for P, L for E, E
for F and K for Y. Vendryes also improvised slivers of cardboard as hair spaces to space the letters
and lines correctly. All this caused major and minor constant varieties in the letters and their spacing
from which the settings can be reconstructed.

Introduction to the provisional ½d official.

Official 1d and 2d stamps were printed and delivered by De La Rue for issue on 1 April 1890.
However, Jamaica failed to order any ½d official stamps in time. So the Post Office commissioned
Vendryes and Co, Kingston to print a provisional overprint as a stopgap.

The stamp overprinted was the 1883 ½d There are two distinct lengths of overprint:
green, watermark Crown CA, typographed 17 to 17.5 mm long, 15 to 16 mm long,
by De La Rue in sheets of 240, 4 panes of used in settings used in setting 3.
60 stamps, comb perforated 14. 1, 2, 4, and 5.