PHILATELIC AND POSTAL BOOKPLATES

 

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 bound a copy of this document in January 2005, which I have called the First edition, for convenience. Henceforth, I will bind a copy each January, provided the document has increased in size by at least ten percent during the year. 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 donated the obsolete volumes to important philatelic libraries round the world.

 

 

This edition was printed on the second day of January 2012

 

 

1^st edition, January 2005                 A single bound copy of 348 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 2006                 A single bound copy of 381 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 2007                 A single bound copy of 530 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.

 

3^rd special edition, February 2008  A single bound copy of 540 pages. Produced for Stephen Holder in recognition of his assistance and for allowing me to search his stock for bookplates.

 

4^th edition, January 2010                 A single bound copy of 584 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, December 2010              A single bound copy of 650 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 744 pages. It was donated to the Royal Philatelic Society London, UK, when it was replaced in my library by the 7^th edition.

 

FOREWORD

 

This is a Section of my masterwork:–

 

THE PHILATELIC BIBLIOPHILES COMPANION

 

Section 5.4          Philatelic and Postal Bookplates

 

It began as a simple listing of my ad hoc collection of philatelic bookplates, many of which were photocopied from articles about bookplates or from the books in which they had been placed by their proud owners. Frankly, I have always been loath to deface books just to remove the bookplate unless the book is of minor importance such as, for example, a catalogue or very common handbook.

 

Initially, I considered that a simple list of the names of the bookplate owners would suffice. With such a list, I would know what I had and what I needed, either as originals or photocopies. More-importantly, philatelic literature dealers - like my good friend Stephen Holder of HH Sales - would know what I wanted. I anticipated that it was only through the good offices of such dealers that my collection would grow significantly.

 

Inevitably, as with all of my projects, it continued to grow far beyond my expectations. I soon realised that some collectors and organisations had several bookplates. Thus, unless I wanted to write substantial descriptions of every bookplate in order to uniquely identify each one, the work would need to be illustrated. This simple concept of picture and owner’s name soon grew to encompass biographies, translations of the mottos, references, substantial descriptions, photographs of the owners – in other words, everything you would expect to find in a substantial monograph on bookplates of philatelists. Inevitably, once I had started down this road, I encountered Stock bookplates which needed to be written up and this lead on naturally to bookplate artists and engravers.

 

Inevitably, I also encountered bookplates used by postal undertakings, particularly in Germany, postal officials and postal museums, all of which could appear on books in the philatelic market as they culled their duplicates or reduced or even eliminated their libraries.

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

 

When I first mentioned this project to Francis Kiddle, he was very supportive and immediately offered to host this document on the FIP Literature Commission web site, http://hps.gr/fipliterature/, like my other long-term projects. Indeed, he has fielded many questions providing advice, suggestions and contacts as well as the bookplates he came across, without which the progress would have been much slower. My other major source of advice and encouragement has been Stephen Holder whose classical education has been put to good use interpreting many of the Latin mottos. Special thanks must go to the Royal Philatelic Society London, Jan Vellekoop and Herb Trenchard who allowed me access to their collections of bookplates. Finally, I must thank Nick Wraith of Cavendish Philatelic Auctions who not only supplied me with all of the bookplates from his personal library but also kept me appraised of those appearing in Cavendish’s literature auctions.

 

To the very many others who provided assistance and particularly bookplates, I can do no more than tender my thanks. This document would have grown in length by several pages if I named everyone who helped me.

 

 

Brian John Birch

 

Standish, UK.

14^th November 2011