John Gilbert Bequest


 Many members will remember the late John Gilbert who died in February 2019. For many years he was a regular attendee at our quarterly meetings in London and you will recognise his name from his many contributions to Fil-Italia and for his handbooks on Fiume published by the society. He was a kind man, generous in spirit and a dedicated postal historian.


 Then, in July 2020, I learned that John, in another act of generosity, had bequeathed his Fiume collection to the Society for the benefit of the members.


 The collection consisted of 12 loose leaf albums, some with stamps but most with postal history of Fiume which was his main passion. It was soon realised that it would be impossible for most members to actually see and study the collection in person, and after careful consideration it was decided to offer the collection for sale to members in the society auction.


 Scans were made of the main postal history elements of the collection and they are now made available to members to see through the links below.


 Other albums in the collection contained Fiume stamps, postcards, photograph and ephemera, much of which was used in illustrating his two other books on Gabriele d’Annuncio and the House of Savoy.

Fiume 1814-1870 Fiume 1870-1914 Fiume 1918-1919 fiume-ww1-susak-free state Fiume ww2 Province of Fiume