At the end of World War I there was a shortage of quality paper for printing postage stamps in Latvia. The Imperial German Army left a substantial quantity of detailed military maps as they withdrew. The new government of Latvia printed its first two issues of stamps on the backs of these maps. Issue number 1 is imperforate.

     The stamps were designed by Ansis Zihrul and produced by the Schnakenburg Lithographers in Riga.

     For further information see Miklos Pinther, "Collecting the Latvian Map Stamp," The Carto-Philatelist, 39(1994) pp. 47-53, 98-107, and Bill Apsit's web page, http://www.apsit.com/mapintro.htm.