Best Stamp Literature?

I've been looking for some good literature (books / magazines) about stamp collecting to compliment the forums I visit (this one and a Portuguese one), although I believe in the case of stamps, forums are far more useful then magazines.

The interaction provides you information no magazine can give you.

Anyways, I'm subscribed to the UK "Stamp Magazine" with Zinio and it helps to keep up to date with news and some debates but it still seems insufficient to me.
Since it's a UK-based magazine, it's mainly focused on UK topics, and I'm not much of a UK stamp collector (occasionally buy stuff from Royal Mail but I ignore the smilers).

Is this a common problem for other magazines, Linn's, etc? What other magazines, newsletters do you recommend?
And any good books out there?
I bought the Linn's Complete Stamp Collecting Basics book a while back to refresh myself on some topics.

The wide range of internet sources (webpages with info on artists and online exhibits) also compensates for the lack of much written literature.
I found the other day this website with online exhibits: http://www.japhila.cz/hof/exponet_menu.htm
Some amazing stuff, including an exhibit on Slania. You can learn a few things with some of the exhibits (most, if not all -haven't been able to see almost anything so far- are in English).

Definitely off the beaten track, but if you have an hour or two to spare for a fascinating philatelic bye-way, I can't recommend
http://www.kashmirstamps.ca/index.html too highly. But beware: it might just convert you to collecting Jammu & Kashmir ...

The two things I enjoy reading are old. One is old copies of The Stamp Wholesaler (I have one or two threads with their articles and a couple of threads with some of their cartoons posted, here) from the 1960's when my father and I were selling stamps by mail. I sure wished they published it today.

The second is books by Herman Herst, Jr., such as Nassau Street and Fun & Profit In Stamp Collecting. Again, these are old but they are still entertaining.

The kind of newsy stuff Linn's (and Western Stamp Collector and Mekeels, in the past) put out never really interested me and the things would just accumulate. I liked them for the ads.

Anyway, you can still find Herst's books if you are looking to be entertained. I'd start with Nassau Street.

A few months back when I was giving some Stamp Wholesalers a final read before passing them on to someone that collected them, I read a lengthy article by Herst about stamp collecting in, I believe, Czechoslovakia during the mid-1960's from a trip he had made to Communist Eastern Europe. It was still an interesting read, coming from him, though it was about 45 years old.

Modern,

I have never read the Stamp Wholesaler but want to now, it sounds like a great trip back in time and good info too.

Ah, the good old days, when there were tons of stamp ads and different magazines all over the place. You could send away for approvals and it was so fun.

Well, it is fun now too, but in different ways. The thrill of getting stamps in the mail is still there. I do miss the approvals that I could pick out what I wanted and return the rest. anyone still do that?

Now-a-days it seems that a lot of information and deiscussion has moved online from the magazines. In a way that is good I think as more collectors have access to more information, but in a way it is bad as not as many collectors perhaps are getting together and meeting face to face.

It would be hard for me to state what is the 'best' literature.

Part of my philatelic budget goes into reference books and I find them all valuable and worthwhile. I also have a library of journals that are published by the different societies and find them very interesting.

If you get a chance to buy some old journals from any given society at a decent price, my advice would be to go for it.

I also have a collection of 25,000+ pages of clippings from the different magazines and philatelic papers, some still on the go and some now extinct. They too make up an interesting library.

Chimo

Bujutsu

I've had trouble getting information so the idea was to try to find out some tips and maybe confirm wthe fact that a lot of information is in club journals.
The countries I collect, it would be very costly to buy stamps plus subscribe to all journals. Since I live in Portugal, the costs to subscribe to Canadian Clubs/Journals is very high. Same with other countries.
I end up paying a lot of money just for a magazine since I will not have an easy time of being able to be present for club gatherings and meetings.

I looked up Herst but the stuff is so old it's not easy to come by ( Amazon).

Can't help much on the reference book side of things, my local library or the internet are the best sources for me. I am surprised again and again what wealth of information is available on the internet referencing stamps (many of which I have discovered by links posted on this forum.)

I, too, also used to subscribe to Linn's Stamp News, but, as mentioned previously, it soon becamse information overload on topics that had little interest to me.

If you're into real history, web search "philately" or "stamp collecting" on one of the full book search engines and you'll come up with some amazing material from 80 to 100 years ago. Much of it may not be pertinent today, but it sure traces back a long history especially on some of the classics.

Besides, it always fun to look at the ads during a time when you could purchase a Scott or Stanley Gibbons Catalog for less than $1 ... those were the days!

I am a Journal and magazine freak, both old and new.
Any magazine I can pick up, wherever I am, is picked up.
Andrew mentioned Stamp Magazine[UK] and I can highly recommend this one. I prefer the hand-held versions but do get Linn's Online and have in the past subscribed to GSM.

Talking of journals, don't forget to order your copy of the October British Philatelic Bulletin !

Londonbus1....Magazine freak !