Literature
The only thing almost as big as the stamp collecting field itself is the amount of literature written about stamp collecting! A quick check of "Books in Print" will turn up several thousand works written about , or for, stamp collectors, stamp collecting, and postage stamps; the hobby of stamp collecting; and the economics, business aspects, and other aspects of this truly worldwide hobby.
Last month we talked about the tools used in stamp collecting. This week, we're going to discuss the literature of stamp collecting. That literature can be divided into two main groups - books and periodicals. The books cover a wide range of categories: catalogues and lists; "how to. . . " books; general reference works; special (topical) material; historical documentaries; and biographies. The periodicals include weekly, monthly, and quarterly writings from more than 200 sources around the world, and provide information on virtually every aspect of the hobby. We'll take a closer look at each of these types of literary resources, and how they can be used to improve the hobby of stamp collecting for the individual collector.
It doesn't take the average collector very long to see the need for some kind of identification system for postage stamps. Many countries have issued several thousands of stamps each, and it's difficult to keep track of what stamps were issued when, and all the rest of the information necessary to distinguish one stamp from another, without some kind of tracking system. The earliest "tracking systems" were actually price lists from young entrepreneurs - Stanley Gibbons in the UK, and John W. Scott in the US, to name the two most prominent - that grew into established cataloguing systems over time.
One of the things that helped these price lists grow into established catalogues is the fact that they were useful tools for collectors. They identified stamps, helped collectors separate stamps by many different categories, including country, denomination, design, value, color, perforation, paper, watermark, and many other variables, and provided guidelines on a reasonable price for which that item usually sold for, both in unused and used condition. Some catalogues provided additional information, including the relative numbers of copies each stamp was printed in.
Each item was given a unique catalogue number by the cataloguer, and the collector could use that number to identify a particular stamp when discussing it with other collectors, dealers, or any other knowledgeable person who might be interested. This was a lot easier than trying to identify the stamp by providing all the other identifying information about the stamp the collector might know, and even allowed the collector to describe stamps he had never seen, but wanted for his collection. The only prerequisite is that the dealer and the collector are using the same catalogue, and there isn't too much of a difference in the dates of issue between the two catalogues!
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