Imitation Is NOT the Sincerest Form of Flattery
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Imitation Is NOT the Sincerest Form of Flattery

This article was republished, with some modifications, as “The Young Postage Stamp Collector shows the Ephemerality of Early Journals” Philatelic Literature Review 72 no. 2 Whole no. 279 (Second Quarter 2023). Philatelic Literature Review is the journal of the American Philatelic Research Library. The first philatelic journal, The Monthly Advertiser, was published on 15 December…

‘Ship Letter’ Robertson on ‘Post Roads’
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‘Ship Letter’ Robertson on ‘Post Roads’

A few weeks back I wrote a blog post on an 1834 entire from Calcutta taking the curricle from Morpeth to Edinburgh. In it, I discuss how one needs to know the distances between the various towns the letter passed through in order to figure out the inland rate markings in Great Britain. Further, I…

The Calumnies of Samuel Singer, Charles Phillips, and Stanley Gibbons
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The Calumnies of Samuel Singer, Charles Phillips, and Stanley Gibbons

This article was republished, with some modifications, as “The Calumnies of Samuel Singer, Charles Phillips, and Stanley Gibbons” Philatelic Literature Review 71 no. 4 Whole no. 277 (Fourth Quarter 2022). Philatelic Literature Review is the journal of the American Philatelic Research Library. Some years ago, while leafing through the auction catalogue of the George T….

F. W. Webb’s The Philatelic and Postal History of Hong Kong
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F. W. Webb’s The Philatelic and Postal History of Hong Kong

Webb’s (Figure 1) The Philatelic and Postal History of Hong Kong and the Treaty Ports of China and Japan (PPHK) has been on my purchase short-list for some time now. A few days back I saw a reprint of book on eBay but it looked, well, different. I bid and managed to bag it. Having…

The Stockholm Catalogue

The Stockholm Catalogue

More than a 100 years back, the best philatelic bibliography ever, Bibliotheca Lindesiana Vol VII: A Bibliography of the Writings General Special and Periodical forming the Literature of Philately or more popularly, ‘The Crawford Catalogue’, was published. Since then many libraries and private collectors (such as Dr. Stanley Bierman and Albert Kronenberg) have published bibliographies…

Relative Scarcity of the Various Volumes of Robson Lowe’s The Encyclopaedia of British Empire Postage Stamps

Relative Scarcity of the Various Volumes of Robson Lowe’s The Encyclopaedia of British Empire Postage Stamps

Since the earliest days of stamp collecting in the 1860s to date, there have been so many great philatelists that it is almost impossible to choose the GOAT – greatest of all time. However it is certain that Robson Lowe (1905 – 1997) would find his name in any potential voter’s top three list. Auctioneer,…

Searching for some ‘Early English Philatelic Literature’

Searching for some ‘Early English Philatelic Literature’

There is this very popular saying in Hindi: जब भगवन देता है चपड़ फाड् कर देता है। This literally translates as, “When God gives, he tears down the roof and gives.” The implied meaning is that when good things have to happen, they often happen together in quick succession (Of course it applies equally to…

Sesquicentennial of The Royal Philatelic Society London
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Sesquicentennial of The Royal Philatelic Society London

 After many suggestions and discussions (Figure 1), eight stalwarts (of the 49 invited) met exactly 150 years ago on 10 April 1869 (Figure 2) at 93, Great Russell Street and formed The Philatelic Society, London.​ These fore-bearers included: ​Sir Daniel Cooper, who was elected the President Frederick A. Philbrick, the Vice President W. Dudley Atlee,…

New Zealand and Dependencies: A Philatelic Bibliography

New Zealand and Dependencies: A Philatelic Bibliography

A few days back I bought, off eBay UK, a copy of Beech et al’s New Zealand and Dependencies: A Philatelic Bibliography. The edition was shown as bound in bright red cloth and thank to Brian Birch’s magnus opus, The Philatelic Bibliophile’s Companion, I immediately recognised it to be the British Philatelic Trust’s version –…