Stamp Collecting was a weekly magazine of stamp collecting published in London from 1913 to 1984.
The magazine was first published by the Philatelic Press on 20 September 1913 [1] before being suspended for five weeks at the outbreak of the First World War after which it was taken over by F. Hugh Vallancey in January 1915. Yearbooks were published for 1925, 1926-1927 and 1928–1929. In 1930 it was taken over by Stamp Collecting Limited under Douglas B. Armstrong who also became the editor. At different times, supplements were issued in the titles Stamp Collecting Literary Supplement, the Stamp Collecting Daily Edition (issued daily during the London Stamp Exhibition November 1928), and the Stamp Collecting Junior Edition. [2]
In 1932 a free gift was given with the magazine to mark the 19th Philatelic Congress of Great Britain which was held in Brighton from June 13–19, 1932. This souvenir consisted of a postcard sized reproduction of the front of an 1840 'Mulready' Letter Sheet with the name, location and dates of the Congress in the 'address' space and with a subscript note reading 'With the Compliments of "Stamp Collecting" 15, St. Bride Street, E.C.4.'.
In 1969, The Philatelic Magazine was incorporated into Stamp Collecting. In 1984, the firm went into voluntary liquidation and Stamp Collecting and The Philatelic Magazine were acquired by Stamp News Limited and incorporated into Stamp News [2] but that magazine itself ceased publication in 1986. [3]
Philatelic literature is written material relating to philately, primarily information about postage stamps and postal history.
Topical or thematic stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps relating to a particular subject or concept. Topics can be almost anything, from stamps on stamps, birds, trains and poets on stamps, to famous physicians and scientists, along with historical people and events on stamps, which is often a standard theme for many stamp issuing countries.
James Alexander Mackay was a prolific Scottish writer and philatelist whose output of philatelic works was rivalled only by Fred Melville. He was described by John Holman, editor of the British Philatelic Bulletin, as a "philatelic writer without equal" but his reputation was damaged by a conviction for theft from the British Museum early in his career, which cost him his job there, and multiple accusations of plagiarism.
The Cinderella Stamp Club was founded on 5 June 1959 in London, England, and is an association of philatelists, amateur and professional, whose interests lie in local stamps, telegraph stamps, railway stamps, revenue stamps, fiscals, forgeries, bogus and phantom issues, Christmas, Red Cross, TB and other charity seals, registration labels, advertisement and poster stamps and many other items - all of which are the so-called "Cinderellas of Philately".
L.N. and M. Williams were a philatelic writing partnership made up of brothers Leon Norman Williams and Maurice Williams (1905–1976).
James Negus was a British philatelist and book editor.
Frederick John Melville was a British philatelist, prolific philatelic author and founder of The Junior Philatelic Society. He was also a founder in 1907 of the Philatelic Literature Society. Melville is a member of the American Philatelic Society's Hall of Fame and was a signatory to The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1921.
Erasmo Oneglia (1853–1934) was an Italian printer, born in Turin, who was also a successful stamp forger in the 1890s and early 1900s.
Fritz F. Billig (1902–1986) was a Viennese philatelist and stamp dealer who fled to the United States after the Austrian Anschluss in 1938 and continued his career from Jamaica, New York. There he published a successful and long-running series of philatelic handbooks that are still regularly referred to by philatelists today.
A specimen stamp is a postage stamp or postal stationery indicium sent to postmasters and postal administrations so that they are able to identify valid stamps and to avoid forgeries. The usual method of invalidating the stamps is either overprinting in ink or perforating the word Specimen across the stamp and where English is not the common language, the words Muestra (Spanish), Monster (Dutch), Muster (German) or Образец have been used instead.
The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists (RDP) is a philatelic award of international scale, created by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1921. The Roll consists of three pieces of parchment to which the signatories add their names.
In philately, the Higgins & Gage World Postal Stationery Catalog is the most recent encyclopedic catalogue of postal stationery covering the whole world. Despite most volumes not having been updated for over thirty years, the catalogue and the H & G numbering system are still widely used by philatelists and stamp dealers although the values given in the catalogue are out of date.
Frederick Stanley Phillips was a British philatelist and prolific philatelic author who signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists at Folkestone in 1937.
Adelaide Lucy Fenton was an early female philatelist and philatelic journalist who was among the first to adopt a scientific approach to philately. Fenton has been called "...the first female philatelist of note".
The Crawford Library is a library of early books about philately formed between 1898 and 1913 by James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford. By the time of his death in 1913, Crawford was thought to have amassed the greatest philatelic library of his time. Today, the library is part of the British Library Philatelic Collections.
Angelo Panelli was an Italian stamp forger, operating from Sanremo in the 1920s and 1930s.
Anthony Buck Creeke Jr. was an English solicitor and early philatelist who edited Stamp Collector's Fortnightly and The British Philatelist. In 1903, he was sentenced to six months in jail for trafficking illegally in British official stamps that should not have been available to the public in unused condition. He was removed from the roll of solicitors but reinstated in 1913.
James Bendon is a stamp dealer, publisher, and philatelist who is an authority on specimen stamps. He wrote and published the first worldwide catalogue of Universal Postal Union specimen stamps and subsequently published philatelic books by authors such as Robson Lowe and James Negus.
Francis Hugh Vallancey was a schoolmaster, philatelist, philatelic author and editor, and dealer in philatelic literature. His business was destroyed during the London Blitz of 1941, but he rebuilt it after the war before ill health forced his retirement.
Henry Garratt-Adams was a British philatelist, philatelic publisher and dealer in philatelic literature based in Kinnersley Castle in Herefordshire, England. After his death, a large hoard of philatelic literature was found at the castle that included many rare items dating to the earliest days of philately.