| BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE BOUND VOLUMES
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 February 2006, which I have called the First edition for convenience. Henceforth, I will bind a copy each January, or thereabouts, 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://fipliterature.org, where the electronic version of this document is hosted. Since printing and binding is quite an expensive undertaking, I will donate the obsolete volumes to important philatelic libraries round the world.
of January 2011 1st edition, February 2005:- A single bound copy of 124 pages. It was donated to the Western Philatelic Library of Sunnyvale, California, when it was replaced in my library by the 2nd edition. (This edition was bound in black. However, when it was realised that several volumes of Philatelic and Postal Bookplates had been inadvertently bound in black, a new colour was selected. All subsequent volumes were bound in red.) 2nd edition, December 2008:- A single bound copy of 143 pages. It was donated to the Collectors Club of New York, when it was replaced in my library by the 3rd edition. This edition was requested earlier than usual by Anthony Virvilis, the incoming President of the FIP Literature Commission. This was inadvertently bound in black but all subsequent volumes will be bound in red. 3rd edition, January 2010:- A single bound copy of 193 pages. It was donated to the Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library of Denver, Colorado, when it was replaced in my library by the 4th edition. This edition is to be bound in red. 4th edition, January 2011:- A single bound copy of 213 pages. It was donated to the American Philatelic Research Library of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, when it was replaced in my library by the 5th edition. Brian John Birch |
FOREWORDThis document comprises Section 2.2.1.5 of my masterwork:- Section 2.2.1.5 Bibliography of Current-Awareness and Retrospective Indexes For some three decades, I have been collecting indexes as an aid to my philatelic researches. Only since about 1990 have they been compiled onto my computer as a bibliography of indexes. In fact, I have started two bibliographies, one to Cumulative Indexes to individual periodicals and the other to Current-Awareness and Retrospective Indexes. It is the latter category that concerns us here. All of the attempts to produce comprehensive periodical indexes which have given rise to some form of published output will be included in this serialised bibliography. However, it does not include unpublished indexes, such as the American Philatelic Research Library's Piper Index, the Smithsonian's Kimble Index or the Royal Philatelic Society London's Bacon Index and Creeke index(15), the latter of which is not really in a suitable form for regular use at present. It does appear to me that an extremely useful service could be provided to philately if these unpublished, personal indexes were computerised and made widely-available to philatelists. It is recognised that such an endeavour would be a labour of love for some unpaid philatelists. The Library Committee of the Royal fully supports this view and currently has projects in hand to computerise the indexes compiled by Sir Edward Denny Bacon and by Antony Buck Creeke Jr. Over the years, I have collected many indexes but have written up very few, since the time to research their history and produce the record dramatically exceeds the time I have routinely available, since I am forced to work for a living. In order to see some results of my labours before I get too old to appreciate them, I have decided to publish this bibliography as each index is completed since an appreciation of each index will in fact make a stand-alone article. I will generally, but not rigidly, publish these in date order starting with the earliest retrospective index of all: that produced by Thomas Martin Wears. Brian John Birch Get the PDF-file Current-Awareness and Retrospective Indexes.PDF (NB. 1 Mb) |