Philately/Introduction

From 1800s to the present era, paper-based books, as well as electronic books, have been published about this subject. Most are dedicated to the hobby of Stamp Collecting, the older sibling of Philately, through a list of stamp catalogues issued by popular publishing houses such as Scott, Linn's, Michel, Stanley-Gibbons, among others. Philatelic books, however, came later when stamp collectors diversified their efforts to learn more about their collection or a particular stamp.

The objective of this book is to introduce Philately as a Hobby, as opposed to Stamp Collecting. While starting a stamp collection is easy as there are a number of books published for beginners, the same cannot be said for Philately. The tools of trade might be the same, but it takes passion to pursue Philately. Furthermore, philatelists must know the technology of stamp-making, have a good background in world history [or a particular country], and the cunning of a detective!

The prospective readers of this book are stamp collectors who having amassed large collections in stamp albums, spent large sums of money, and want to show-off their collection to the public, learn more on the next step to stamp collecting.