What Books Do You Recommend For A Newbie?

I love books and would like some recommendations. I have The International Guide to Stamps & Stamp Collecting by Douglas and Mary Philips, copyright 1962 (fun resource and a bit dated, which just adds to the aura), and 100 Greatest American Stamps by Janet Klug and Donald Sundman (Christmas present, and gorgeous book).

Any favorites or recommendations for a newbie? I need something that is kind of basic and explains about perfs and watermarks and such, I think, and then just some interesting reading would be fine. I'm interested in US, GB, and NZ stamps, as well as the stamps of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. I love postal history and older stamps, too. Also FDCs, and anything related to National Parks.

The Complete Guide to Stamps & Stamp Collecting by Dr James MacKay, excellent start to a novice.

http://www.booktopia.com.au/the-com...dwvAod-iEAZg

Don't forget about the introductory materials in the front of the catalogues from both Scott and Gibbons.

Based on your interests, I would recommend picking up a Scott Classic and a Gibbons Commonwealth. A 5-7 year old catalogue should be cheap, and while the values won't be current, the material will still be useful.

The Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library just published a new book on post offices located in what are now National Parks.

Well, there I go, falling into the black hole of National Parks philatelic collecting, never to be seen again. Thanks, paperhistory. :)

CaffeinatedSquirrel!

You'll learn a lot just by monitoring this website. The search function at the top of this page can be very helpful for specific questions. There are lots of discussions on which albums, tongs, hinges, mounts, etc. people prefer and why, also storage ideas, organization ideas, display ideas, other tricks of the trade.... and of course stamps themselves. Browse! It's amazing and free!

Don't forget your local library! Many have Scott Catalogs (my most used resource) and may even have some the references mentioned by the others.

Karen

I would check out the electronic library on the USPCS site. Begin with the Lester G. Brookman books "The United States Postage Stamps of the 19TH Century", Volumes I,II, and III. There are more books avaible at this site, but these will provide a solid understanding of U.S. stamp production. Best of all, free download! You can be reading Vol I in just a few minutes from now.

http://www.uspcs.org/resource-cente...nic-library/

I'm not sure I would recommend Brookman to a neophyte but yes, by all means look at it, download it, Caffeine. At whatever point you are ready to get into the meat and potatos of specialized US stamp collecting, Phil is right, Brookman is a good starting point. If you look it over and find it fascinating right now, then dive in. And let us know. It would be a help to me to have a sense of just how accurately or inaccurately I've assessed the level at which Brookman is accessible to newer collectors. The other material on the USPCS electronic library provides the rest of the enducation program for a USA specialist.

For evaluating stamps, detecting flaws and alterations etc., the standard books are by Paul Schmid, The Experts Book (for Washington-Franklin stamps) and How to Detect Damaged, Altered and Repaired Stamps. But again, they are for when you are ready to get into things that deeply. You are the only one who knows when that is.

Schmid's books are available on CDs. Bill Weiss also has them available at http://www.stampexpertizing.com/ and they are also being sold by ebay sellers.

The same goes for forgeries--Varro Tyler's book, Focus on Forgeries is a user-friendly introduction (assembled from columns in a stamp magazine over the years). Fernand Serrane is in French and is older and more detailed and is available via the BIbliotheque Nationale online. In between is R. B. Earee, Album Weeds, or How to Detect Forged Stamps, also older but also available online as a Google book.

In a different category are the memoirs of the great stamp dealers. Start with Herman Herst, Nassau Street, but then a number of others are available in paper and other media. They're just good stories. And Herst is only one of many who wrote memoirs of that sort.

I'll second the comment that the introductory material in Scott Catalogs is a good resource to learn about things like perfs, watermarks, printing methods, etc. The first time I held a Scott Catalog in my hands (all of about 5 years ago), I was engrossed by that section and read the entire thing. I should re-read it now, in fact, as the information contained there would make a little more sense to me now with a few years of "serious" collecting under my belt. There is a lot of other useful information in that section as well, such as information on how catalog prices are arrived at, etc. Every collector should read it, but many don't so much as even glance at it.

Well, Brookman's is certainly not light reading, but it's not really challenging either. It cleared up a couple of things, like what a line engraving was (I knew, but I for some reason hadn't transferred the term to stamp printing... not sure why). I got to the bit on plate varieties, and THAT was helpful. I could certainly guess what a plate variety was, but understanding why they happen beyond specks of dust and wear is really nice. I read the first few pages and I think I'll go back to it, though I wish I had a hard copy to peruse. I like real, hard copy books, but eBooks definitely have their advantages.

Thanks for the report, CaffeinatedSquirrel. You just furthered my education.

And you are no neophyte anymore. You are a knowledgeable Collector. Just drive right on, full speed ahead. And keep us posted on what you discover.

"Pat Paragraphs" - Hardcover – 1981 -This is series of articles containing a wide range of subjects with major emphasis on the first three issue of US postage stamps, carriers, locals, expresses and private die proprietaries by Elliot Perry, a dean of American Philately. Hardcover: 648 pages.

It's well worth the money if this is an area that you are going to collect; an even if it's an area that you don't collect now, and you collect US stamps, I strongly recommend the book!

Hal


By the way, Hieronymus made some excellent reading suggestions. I have all the books he's referenced -- they are all great. And if you like Herman Herst's "Nassau Street" ( which is great) he has several other's).

Welcome CaffeinatedSquirrel, I love that handle! Give a great visual!!


No better way to put it!. I find just following the topic lists at the bottom of the page, example, Top 100 Active topics, or the new topics. Excellent questions are asked, and the responses are plentiful.
I too enjoy hand held books as opposed to e-anybook. I dunno why, just cant stay focused on the text. Yes its weird.
I find great values on Catalogs and related book on Amazon. now I have Scotts US Specialzed c2008, 6 Volume Scotts c2009, Gibbons GB c2010 and a couple others and I'm still under $100 including Shipping.

Oh, it sounds as if you're not the newbie you said you were in your first message! I hope I didn't offend you with a too simplistic response to your question. I guess I would still make the same recommendations though.

I pulled a couple of books from my library that I enjoy browsing:

The Stamp Atlas, by W. Raife Wellsted, Stuart Rossiter & John Flower, discusses the changes of borders and governments worldwide as relates to stamps. Nice maps and photographs!

Collecting Postal History, by Prince Dimitry Kandaoroff, starts with ancient to modern times discussing the postal delivery process (even carrier pigeons), postmarks, and individual covers. Lots of photos!

Also here is a discussion of books on SCF:

https://goscf.com/t/13828&whichpage...ur%20library

Here is a list of free resources online:

http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopi...f=19&t=60638

Enough to keep you busy for a very long time

Kehess, I really am a newbie. I absorb information, particularly terminology, pretty quickly, though. :) And no, I'm so not offended. You'd have to be pretty mean to offend me. You weren't mean at all; you just took me at my word as a newbie (I've been collecting for about six months, so I consider myself a baby collector).

I am wading through Brookman still, and the discussion on whether the 1847s were printed using copper or steel plates got pretty heavy. I think it's an excellent resource whose value is going to depend on how intense one wants one's education to be. If one wants to collect pretty bird stamps, it's probably not what one wants. (I have nothing against those that collect pretty bird stamps; I do myself to an extent... THIS just isn't the book they need.) If one wants to really dig into the ins and outs of printing, varieties, errors, forgeries, etc.... this is *definitely* the book you want. I know I'm not understanding everything, but if I get 80% now and file some away as "I think I need to see that in person or in a really good photograph to get it", I'll understand eventually. I'd never discourage a newbie from reading it; I'd just give a heads up as to what it is. :)