posted 07-30-2013 10:41 PM               

1. Soyuz TM-4
   
2. Soyuz TM-8

posted 07-31-2013 01:50 AM               

Yet, this is not the only product Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga sold during their history. "International Book" was the foreign trade agendy of the former Soviet Union for any cultural product sold outside the Soviet Union. They sold a lot of things, of course, and many more than the aforementioned series of covers.

posted 07-31-2013 10:13 PM               

I was sure I am almost finished with my collecting of the officially signed Kniga covers (except for Gagarin which I am still looking for to buy) but it looks like they did not stop on Soyuz 24. This is why I am asking for clarification here.

I saw a number of crew signed covers which look similar to the covers in my first post but they usually don't have any certificate or LOA. They could be Kniga covers too but I wasn't sure...

posted 08-01-2013 02:25 AM               

The colloquial term "Kniga series" refers to a series of covers from Vostok through the early Soyuz flights that were of a similar design and autographed by the cosmonauts of the mission.

As I said before, Mezdunarodnya Kniga (International Book) was the foreign trade agency for anything cultural during the Socialist Era. They sold a lot of stuff, including paintings, books, music, etc., and also other philatelic items.

The covers you are discussing here do not have the same design as the so-called original Kniga series. On top of it, they were flown into space, which the original "Kniga series" covers were not. Kniga sold quite a few more flown covers, some using Soviet stationery envelopes, others printed envelopes produced for the purpose (such as for Progress 33 or Buran).

posted 08-01-2013 09:32 PM               

I believe I have a pretty good (doesn't mean complete) understanding of what "Kniga" is because 1) I am Russian, I was born there and I was living in Moscow for several years and 2) I have the James Reichman's book.

My belief was (and it was based on the information from a number of sources including the one mentioned above) that the signed Kniga covers stopped with the Soyuz 24. I wasn't thinking in terms of "Kniga series", I was thinking about officially signed covers in general.

Speaking of the "Kniga series" I would use the following categories/sets:

1. Vostok 1-6
   
2. Voskhod 1-2
   
3. Soyuz 3-8
   
4. Soyuz 9-24 (envelopes changed here, no usage of the "Sputnik 3" postmark)
   
5. Others.

1. Why the previously mentioned Soyuz 24 covers was so special?

2. What post-Soyuz 24 flights got their signed covers from Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga? I would like to have a catalog.