These can be purchased from some, stationery bookshop or from a stamp dealer. General collection of the stamps of all the countries in the world has a lot to recommend it. A great difficulty is that hundreds of countries are issuing new stamps every month and it is nearly impossible to keep up all the. The serious collector usually finds sooner or later that a general collection is simply too large. He decides to specialize, perhaps by collecting certain types of stamps only.
Specialization can take many forms.
Many stamp collectors concentrate only on, for example, the stamps of India or the neighboring countries. Later on specialization becomes much more detailed and specific by studying stamps. Specialized collection can be a country collection, thematic collection, postal history, post marks, first day covers, postal stationeries or any other field, depending on collector's interest. Reading in philately, like other fields, is the key to knowledge. The collector must read and read avidly about stamp collecting.