stamps

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 75-page tabletop book is also a stamp album, with spaces to mount commemorative Olympic stamps inside the book. Each page contains a vivid color portrait of an Olympic superstar. With a dedication by the Postmaster General of the United States, the book explains the enduring stamp design process in detail. The United States Olympic commemorative postage stamp issue of 1984 was truly one of a kind.

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 gold-covered book is especially appropriate for the Smithsonian Library's golden anniversary celebration. In the early days of the U.S. postal system, mail traveled to California overland, or by steamship, pony, jackass (pack mule), and railroad. The goal was to connect isolated California with the rest of the United States. At almost four hundred pages in length, this book contains hundreds of black-and-white photos (and a few color plates) of canceled covers—envelopes stamped by the post office so they cannot be reused as fresh postage.

At over two hundred pages long, this hardback book is basically an encyclopedia of African American heroes on postage stamps, both from the United States and around the world. Arranged alphabetically by last name, it provides short biographies, followed by black and white illustrations of each postage stamp. The stamps are numbered and references to the numbered stamps are in the biographies. For example, Michael Jordan, illustration #289, Tanzania postage stamp.

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 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.