Klass, Arthur (1998). Privately Rouletted Post Cards of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.

Regularly issued postal stationery cards with no printed heading (Webb type 1) were available from the Canada Post Office for many years, not only as single cards but also in sheets of various sizes depending on the era. Some users purchased large sheets, printed advertising or notices on them, and cut the sheets into single cards. Instead of cutting the sheets, a few users privately rouletted or perforated the sheets to facilitate separation of single cards when necessary.

“Privately Rouletted Post Cards of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company” documents how the Canadian Pacific Railway Company (CP) and its subsidiaries, Dominion Express Company and Dominion Atlantic Railway Company, printed various types of freight advice forms on privately rouletted post cards to facilitate their express and freight business. (Essentially, CP Express handled small shipments such as UPS or Federal Express might today; CP Railway handled large commercial shipments.)

The first privately rouletted CP post card was introduced in 1925 by the Dominion Express Company, which changed its name to Canadian Pacific Express Company in 1926. Privately rouletted cards were extensively used for freight advice forms between 1925 and 1956. These cards are rouletted horizontally on the top and/or bottom and are known to exist in vertical strips of four and, on later issues, in strips of five. Starting in 1959, privately rouletted freight advice forms were gradually replaced by multi-part flimsy form cards, which are not covered in this work. Privately rouletted CP post cards can be classified into four general categories, depending on what purpose the printed form was intended to serve.

68 pages, 8.5″x11″, B&W, Cirulox bound.

ISBN 0-919854-17-6