postal

This handbook contains everything you need to know to get started stamp collecting. It was written by prolific philatelic author Stephen Datz in consultation with famed philatelist Wayne Youngblood. The book covers the essentials and illustrations augment the text. The authors define philatelic terms, discuss all the different ways stamps are hinged, and dive into the history of stamps. 

The author of this masterpiece, British lawyer Chapman Frederick Dendy Marshall (1872 – 1945) was a railway historian. He was also a philatelist. At age 56, he was awarded the coveted Crawford Medal by the Royal Philatelic Society of London for this exact publication. The Crawford Medal is awarded by the Society for the most valuable contribution to philately published in book form. The medal is named after the 26th Earl of Crawford, a philatelic bibliophile. Mr. Marshall was a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Institution of Locomotive Engineers.

This 500-page book is a collection of round postal markings (postmarks) stamped on envelopes, from the Gold Coast region of Africa (modern-day Ghana). The author places these items of philatelic history in the context of the overall history of the region, from the first visit by Portuguese explorers in 1471, through the Republic of Ghana's achievement of independence from British colonial rule in 1957.

This 50-page book is copy number 160 of only 500 in a limited-edition printing. Number six of the Pacific History Series, this book's cover features a handsome 1867 image of the wooden side-paddle wheel steamer "China." This ship was manufactured to transport mail across the Pacific, from San Francisco to Japan. One side effect of the California Gold Rush was the increase of California's commercial ties with Asia.

This is a small orange booklet printed in a tiny typeface. Published in 1977 by the chief authority on Nationalist China postage stamps at the time, this catalogue is number 502 of 1000 printed. It contains stamp listings, general philatelic information, postal history, and an index. What makes this volume special? The fact that the author actually came into contact with all of these stamps.

This book contains over 250 pages of letters to and from the Postmaster General, along with charts and tables. It documents the work of mail agents who carried mail from the eastern states to California by steamship until the completion of the transcontinental railroad in the late 1860s. Professor Theron Wierenga wrote this book for his students, after his son was born.

Each page of this short, beautifully illustrated book is packed with information about Black Heritage Series postage stamps. From Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Frederick Douglass to Harriet Tubman to Jesse Owens, twenty-eight African American heroes are described in this book. Each chapter has a portrait of the subject (painted by Thomas Blackshear), followed by an extensive biography and an image of their postage stamp, including its date of issue.

Author of eight books in the National Postal Museum Library alone (including Gold Fever, California Gold, Black Gold, Klondike Gold, and Victoria Gold) Kenneth Kutz is a gold enthusiast. This 400-page book tells the history of gold prospecting around the world and the effect it had on early explorers, settlement, and colonization. Gold incites both romance and excitement, not just in California, but all over the world.

This pocket sized exhibition booklet contains a chronicle of the African American experience told through the unique lens of stamps and mail. At around 100 pages long, it is full of beautiful color illustrations of stamp art. The National Postal Museum's exhibition opened to the public in the middle of Black History Month 2015, and ended in the middle of Black History Month 2016. Museum visitors learned about letters carried by slaves, mail to and from civil rights leaders, and original artwork from the USPS Black Heritage stamp series.

This thin, 26 page booklet has both color portraits and black and white pencil sketches of prominent heroes of Black History. Written by three Black doctors, it was published in Washington, D.C. Part One is arranged in chronological order based on significant events in American history.

This 80 paged collector's edition stamp album collector's pays homage to many classic American comics, including but not limited to Dick Tracy, Popeye, Li'l Abner, Flash Gordon, and Krazy Kat.