Best Books on Philately

Several parents are not fully aware of the steps involved to sustain the initial interest kindled when introducing kids to philately. Books and other media resources available on the Internet step up to fill that void. Again, with the heavily commercialized aspect of philately, it is easy to far exceed one’s budget on books, catalogs, and other media. A frugal approach on the other hand, allows philatelists get more mileage out of their funds and enjoy their leisure pursuit in earnest.

• Always opt a for a used book in place of a new one – as philately is a relatively old hobby, numerous books are in circulation and one can easily find a vintage version for far less – even if money is not an issue, such a simple step will leave more trees standing,
• Local libraries usually carry books on philately and can provide a head start (the ISBN is included to help with a philately book search in the library).

The spreadsheet below is our list of the best books and media available with a worldwide or US scope:

Book, PDF doc, or other Media	Thumbnail	ISBN	List Price	Best Price	Comments
The Official Stamp Collector's Bible by Stephen Datz		978-0609808849	$49	$38	Philatelic advice on every aspect of collecting and trading.
Encyclopedia of United States Stamps and Stamp Collecting (Hardcover)		978-1886513983	$40	$26.40	Introduces the collector to the full scope of United States stamps and stamp collecting – 730 pages of full-colored quality content.
The World in Stamps (Hardcover) by Laurent Lemerle		978-0810955196	$35	27.30	3500 stamps organized thematically to show how it documents world history spread over 256 pages.
Fundamentals of Philately (Hardcover) by L.N.Williams APS 1971 republished June 1990		978-0933580138	$49	$39	Targets the “serious” collector – details on machinery, materials used, and production details make it unique.
The International Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Philatelics by R. Scott Carlton		978-0873414487	$35	$15	Covers details on inscriptions in stamps with translations.
Stamp Collecting for Dummies by Richard L. Sine		978-0764553790	$20	$10	A classic from the Dummies series that avoids the bane of most philatelic books - getting classified as too dry!
All About Stamps: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Philatelic Terms by Wayne L. Youngblood		978-0873419635	$15	$4	Focused on Terms - Chats on postage stamps covers most terms but this one adds some newer terms and details.
Stamp Collecting by Stephen R. Datz		978-0882190303	$20	$10	A good introduction to the absolute beginner.
Chats on postage stamps (1920 printing) Melville, Fred J. (Frederick John), 1882-1940		NA	Public Domain - Free	Public Domain - Free	An amazing account of early philately and the history of stamps starting from the 1600s spread-out over 300 pages of high quality content.
13.5 minute Stamp History Video – World Through Stamps, The story behind postage stamps, 1957		NA	Public Domain – Free	Public Domain - Free	A fascinating TV episode from 1953 about stories on stamps. This episode focuses on aviation and Lindberg’s flight.
What philately teaches – A lecture delivered on February 24, 1899		NA	Public Domain – Free	Public Domain - Free	A succinct early account of philately with a focus on subjects used, how they are made, and the widely used terms.
American Philatelic Society PDFs: a) Ten low-cost ways to start collecting stamps, and b) Three Tips for stamp collectors		NA	None	None	Good introduction for absolute beginners.

The following sources provide a tremendous amount of media publications:

1. Stamp Catalog Publishers: On an annual basis several stamp catalog publishers release volumes containing details on stamps published globally over the previous years. These huge volumes are not at all environment friendly, given the majority of the information are repeated. We will look into Stamp catalogs and options for philatelists in an upcoming post,
2. Philatelic Bureaus of the World’s Postal Services – this will be covered in detail in another post,
3. Philatelic websites, societies, and forums – we will go into the specifics of what they offer in another post as well, and
4. Stamp Dealer Catalogs and related media – these usually arrive with subscription and approvals automatically and hence are best avoided – also the catch with stamp dealer approvals in general is that return postage is the recipients responsibility.
 

 

Last Updated: 09/2015.