Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-08-25

0tdtupc dllO pOctd1 ulo2 hA21So "a "
cry sort, then, are fragments OF the
most deeply and permanently fasci-
mating story Of which the mind can
conceive. They reflect the ceaseiess
struggle Of nations toward higher
planes of life; they hold the mirror
up to every enterprise and to every
ideal and purpose Of existence. BY
examination Of them, scholars may
verify the trends Of progress, halted
as they are on occasion by war or de-
flected as they are no less frequently
by revolution. Not one single event
fails of a philatelic monrment-gov-
ernments even deliberately create So
called commemorative" issues IN
honor of characters or incidents Of
which they have reason to be proud.
But philately as a universal ad-
junct to the humane arts and sciences
was not launched upon separate
and distinct career until about 1858,
when M. de Villayer established a
petite poste in Paris for local accom-
mediation. He had royal sanction TOR
his experiment, and sold letter covers
or wrappers at two sous lone penny
each. Letters inclosed In such wrap
pers and dropped in letter boxes were
collected and delivered by laquis (foot-
mem, who removed the wrappers on
delivery. These wrappers were the
first printed franks, comparable to the
stamped envelopes and covers OF mod
ern times" If any American collec-
tor, by courtesy Of thoughtful great
great-great-gr great grandparent,
owns any specimens, he Is fortunate
indeed and merits the congratulatlon
of his contemporaries.
The De Villayer innovation approx
mately a century and half later was
followed by the use Of stamped sheets
OF paper as a tax device on corre-
spondence in Sardinia, but the tax
was not an authentic charge for
transportation. A plan suggested by
Lieut.. C, G. Treffenberg for stamped
wrappers for the prepayment OF postal
service fees in Sweden in 1923 was
more definite step toward the ultl-
mate postal labels produced by Sir
Rowland Hill for Great Britain IN
1870.
Hill, however, did not have un-
divided faith in gummed labels. One
important aspect of his plan was the
celebrated stamped envelope sketched
by william Mulready-it appeared IN
penny and tuppeny form on May s.
1910. and was expected to meet the
existing need satisfactorily. But the
sponsor also brought out on the same
date Queens head adhesives In like
denominations, and they hit the public
fancy squarely. The moment they
were released, modern philately was
born. One man at least-a country
parson-understood what was hap
pening. Preserve this stamp" he
wrote to a.girl relative, because 1t one
day may be valuable, my dear" The
letter found its way eventually into
the possession Of the most widely ia
nous of philatelists, H. M. King
George v, and witnesses in his collec-
ton to the enthusiasm which has been
the motive of collectors as class
from the beginning.
Success in England soon was dupli-
Gated in scattered portions of the
globe. In 1912, Henry T. Windsor
brought out city dispatch post stamp
for New York: in 1843, the Swiss can
tens of Zurich and Geneva and the
Empire of Brazil placed stamps in
service in their respective territories.
and in 1845, several postmasters in
the United States-New York and ST.
Louis notably-issued PROFESSIONALS in
anticipation of the first Federal
stamps, July /. 1847.
The precious Mauritius post office
adhesives of the last named year we're
engraved by colonial matchmaker in
two denominations-ld, orange red,
and I'd. blue: and Bermuda fell in
line with a postmaster's label equally
unpretentious in 1848. A few months
later the list of stamp-issuing coun-
tries included Bavaria, Belgium,
France, Austria, British Guiana, Han
over, New South Wales, Prussia, Sax
ony, Schleswig- Holstein, Spain, Switz-
erland and Victoria. The age was ripe
for expansion, and the gummed
sticker was humble instrument of
progress.
But everywhere 1t happened that
there was an active minority of people
who did not view stamps as being at
all inconsequential. Rather, they
appreciated instantly that they were
objects of permanent interest and
therefore of permanent economic sig
nif1cance. Incredible as it may seem,
a few individuals actually formed the
habit Of laying away whole sheets Of
different denominations. One may
see the results of their thrift in
Berlin this Summer-scores of leaves
Of the earliest philatelic products of
the states of the North German Fed
Grafton, as fresh and clean and beau
tiful as when they came from the
post office stock books more than four
score years ago.
Fred ]. Melville writes: Postage
stamps were already attracting COL
lectors In the sos; by 1860-1862 q
great wave of popular interest spread
In Europe and America, and the ex-
tensive literature of stamp collecting
began. Mount Browns catalogues, pub
lshed in 1862-l864, list 1900 varieties
known to him in May, 1852, and 2.4O0
in his last edition in March, 1864.
The Standard Catalogue in 1928, list
ing only main varieties of Government
stamps, presents a total of 46,969.@
The more detailed catalogues, inclusive
OF minor varieties Gibbons, Scott,
Kohl, etc. may be estimated as re-
cording 10000 to 10000. Even these
high figures refer only to adhesive
postage stamps issued by governments;
If the stamps of municipal, local and
private posts were added, the num-
Der would be much larger"
Oscar Berger-Levrault, a printer at
Strasbourg, invented the first catalogue
"a manuscript later 0861) printed
as a thin quarto 12-page pamphlet,
and a, young English artist, Booty by
name, brought out the first catalogue
l.