Ian McQueen (1919-1999) was not a mere collector; he was a meticulous postal historian. A Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London, McQueen specialized in the complex routes of the French Aéropostale and the early Pan American Airways. His approach was forensic: he did not simply list markings; he reconstructed the flight schedules, surcharge tables, and postal treaties that gave rise to them.
Prior to McQueen’s work, references to Jusqu’à markings were scattered. Collectors relied on vague mentions in The French Airmail Catalogues of the 1960s. McQueen’s genius was to recognize that these markings were not errors or anomalies, but a coherent postal system worthy of systematic classification. Jusqu-a Airmail Markings- A Study Ian McQueen
His study, published in the late 1970s (with updates through the 1980s in journals like The Airpost Journal and France & Colonies Philatelic Society), remains the unchallenged typology for these markings. Ian McQueen (1919-1999) was not a mere collector;
McQueen identifies France as the primary user, with markings for: A significant finding is that no British or
A significant finding is that no British or US “Jusqu’à” marking exists in official postal use; Britain used “By Air Mail To…” cachets, which McQueen distinguishes as functionally similar but philatelically separate.
Author: Ian McQueen