Thursday, January 17, 2008

History of philately

Three reading advices about philately telling herself's history:

* Christian Boyer proposed, with scans of 19th century specialized papers, the origin of the word "philately" and the writings of the first philatelic authors, either in French or in English tongue. The website is looking for a translator to expand its part in English.

* Helen Morgan, wife of a Mauritian man, studied the history of the first stamps of Mauritius, late discovered by European collectors, so late that they thought the legend "Post Office" was their designer Barnard's mistake.

Blue Mauritius cover (amazon.co.uk)

Like the subtitle explains, she hunted these stamps through the 19th and 20th century references : quotations in philatelic papers, miraculous findings and disappearings, rumors of falsification, record bidings, etc. She painted, little by little, the pantheon of classic philately.

Adding to the sources and references (readable in text and at the end of the book), the author let her working sheets on a website, my third reading advice.

Have nice evenings near the fire.

To read again :
I discovered Helen Morgan's book at the same time as Nicholas Courtney's history of the Royal Philatelic Collection, I wrote about here.

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