Bibliography of General Literature in The Philatelic Library

 

by

 

Brian J. Birch

 

 

Although this document is only intended to exist in electronic form, I find it very convenient to have a hard copy to hand. It is easier to refer to a book than wait the five or ten minutes it takes to start up and close down a computer, just to obtain a single reference or check a fact. Books also give you the big picture of the document as a whole, rather than the small-screen glimpses we have all got used to. Accordingly, I printed and had bound a copy of this document in February 2006, which I have called the First edition, for convenience. Henceforth, I will have a copy bound each January, or thereabouts, provided the document has increased in size by at least ten percent since the previous printing. At the same time I will send an update to the web files on http://hps.gr/fipliterature, where the electronic version of this document is hosted. Since printing and binding is quite an expensive undertaking, I donate the obsolete volumes to important philatelic libraries round the world.

 

In 2010, I decided to remove all of the Victorian journals from my holdings, keeping only those published in the 1860s. This resulted in a general reorganisation of the work which eliminated many blank pages. The deleting of the periodicals was completed in 2011, having removed thirty or forty pages from this work.

 

 

This edition was printed on the second day of January 2012

 

 

1^st edition, February 2006    A single bound copy of 130 pages. It was donated to the Western Philatelic Library of Sunnyvale, California, when it was replaced in my library by the 2^nd edition.

 

2^nd edition, January 2007     A single bound copy of 179 pages. It was donated to the Collectors Club of New York, when it was replaced in my library by the 3^rd edition.

 

3^rd edition, January 2008     A single bound copy of 233 pages. It was donated to the Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library of Denver, Colorado, when it was replaced in my library by the 4^th edition.

 

4^th edition, December 2008  A single copy of 261 pages. It was donated to the American Philatelic Research Library of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, when it was replaced in my library by the 5^th edition.

 

5^th edition, January 2010     A single bound copy of 277 pages. It was donated to the National Philatelic Society of London, UK, when it was replaced in my library by the 6^th edition.

 

6^th edition, January 2012     A single bound copy of 304 pages. It was donated to the Royal Philatelic Society London, UK, when it was replaced in my library by the 7^th edition.

 

 

FOREWORD

 

 

I don’t have enough room in my house for me to have a large library, unless most of it is stored in boxes in the attic. For many years following my marriage, this is exactly what happened, the majority of my collection of books and periodicals being kept in the attic of my parents’ house. When I began to compile The Philatelic Bibliophile’s Companion, my whole approach changed and I chose to keep only those items that found a place in this Bibliography. All other items were to be read and disposed of, once I had photocopied any material of interest in them.

 

Inevitably, there were certain items that I was reluctant to part with even though they formed no part of The Philatelic Bibliophile’s Companion. In addition, when I considered Sections of the work to have been completed, I disposed of the material from the completed Section, simply because I had no room to store them. In spite of this policy, I occasionally kept selected items of general interest or use to me – philatelic dictionaries, for example. All of these items I kept together in what I called my General Library. From time to time, I added books of particular interest to me even though they had no place in my bibliographies.

 

The objective of this listing is to provide a catalogue of the various books and other collections that comprise my General Philatelic Library. It specifically excludes works that form part of The Philatelic Bibliophile’s Companion or my other bibliographic works.

 

Finally, I must thank Francis Kiddle who offered to host this and other unpublished documents relating to my long-term projects, on the FIP Literature Commission web site at http://hps.gr/fipliterature.

 

 

Brian John Birch

Standish, UK.

11^th May 2011