Bargain of the century: U.S. stamp encyclopedia

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Bargain of the century: U.S. stamp encyclopedia

By Michael Schreiber

   The new book Encyclopedia of United States Stamps and Stamp Collecting was created as a recruiting tool for the stamp hobby in general and specifically for the United States Stamp Society. Rodney A. Juell and Steven J. Rod edited the book.
   I suggest that you buy yourself one for Christmas and buy another one for a friend who is new to stamp collecting and interested in U.S. stamps.
   The 730-page hardbound book carries a retail price of $30, but the society sells it to its members at $25 postpaid (to join, write to USSS, Box 6634, Katy, TX 77491). Subway Stamp Shop also sells the book for the same price plus shipping, and other dealers in philatelic literature carry it as well.
   Normally a hardbound book this size printed in color throughout would sell for about $60 or more.
   The book, published in May, covers the wide range of U.S. stamps and some related postal history, but it is not an encyclopedia.
   Other than through its 53-page glossary, you cannot look up alphabetical entries as you would in a traditional encyclopedia.
   The book is organized instead into three sections of 62 chapters that are wellillustrated in color. I counted more than 750 images of stamps, blocks, pairs, panes, strips, diagrams and covers in the 62 chapters (the first 654 pages). These images are one of the book’s two great strengths.
   Its other strength is in the format of each chapter: following the text and images are sections titled "Notes on Collecting" (advice on how to collect what the chapter discusses), "Almanac" (a listing of related key year dates and some specifi c dates), "What Others Have Said" (quoted excerpts from the many writers on the subject), "Examples of Postal Usage" (pictures of covers and cards), and "Where to Find More Information" (listings of books, periodicals and web sites of interest).
   Chapters 2 through 17 discuss specifi cally the U.S. regular-issue stamp
series from 1847 through the Great Americans stamps and the Transportation coil stamps of the 1980s and later, plus the recent regular-issue stamps of the 21 st century.
   Five separate chapters discuss 19 th-, 20 th- and 21 st-century commemorative stamps. Nine more chapters introduce airmail stamps, special usage stamps, federal and state revenue stamps, stamps of the U.S. possessions and occupations, postal stationery, precanceled stamps and perfin stamps, carrier and local stamps, and the stamps of the Confederate States of America.
   The book’s second section (chapters 32 through 55) discusses the U.S. Post Office Department, the U.S. Postal Service and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the production methods and technology used to manufacture U.S. stamps. There is one chapter on modern private printers.
   Since its inception in 1926, the United States Stamp Society has focused on the technology and production of U.S. stamps, so it is natural that these chapters encompass onethird of the new book.
   The book’s third section, "Expanding the Collector’s Scope," covers the society, postal history, fi rst-day covers and meter stamps.

 

Front of the dust jacket of the new book Encyclopedia of United States Stamps and Stamp Collecting, published in May.