Evening star., 1940-05-19
AMONG THE STAMP COLLECTORS
News of the Phatec World Its Interests and PeopeRevew
The Stamp Press-List of Local Meetings
Bv James Waldo Favceff.


tenary commemorative for release at
the annual American Philatelic So
ciety convention, to be held at the
Hotel Statler, Buffalo, August -
to 16.
The introduction to the Postage
Stamp Centenary Book, soon to be
published, reads in part as follows:
"The art and the science of collect
ing postage stamps for study and for
investment purposes really began
before the first true adhesive labels
were issued. Perhaps from the in
auguration of the very earliest of
postal systems there were people
whose curiosity was aroused by so
marvellous thing as the transmits
sion of ideas over wide distances Of
space and time by the trick of
symbols written on paper. The
markings on the covers of such
messages are of interest to us today,
and it is not illogical to suppose
that they likewise had attraction for
our ancestors long ago.
BE the cause what it may, a nat
ural demand for a system of service
produced a supply of souvenirs Of
that form of labor, and even now
the basic value of philatelic material
is that it represents thought and
toil-the two factors which primarily
are responsible for the gradual evo-
luton of mankind out of the prim-
tive conditions of its start.
1.-THE museums of Europe preserve
books, manuscripts and other proof
of the lengthy development of COM
munication. Therefore, it is fair to
argue that back of the most recent
product of the Bureau of Engraving
and Printing stretches a line of
precedents whose source is lost in
the mists of the remotest past. When
a contemporary artist takes up his
pencil to design receipt for postal
tax paid he is initiating without
realizing 1t the idealogy and the
technique of some forgotten genius
of two or three milleniums before
his birth. Some dark Egyptian
slave made similar marks upon
papyrus for a pharoah of antiquity;
some stalward Chinese runner spent
his strength of limb and lung for
the Great Khan; some weather.
beaten Persian courier did as much
for Cyrus at a date within the range
of Herodotus. And every tattered
scrap of the record Is a precious
portion of the everlasting chronicle
of the human race.
Stamps and postal markings Of
every sort, then, are fragments
of the most deeply and perma-
nently fascinating story of which
the mind can conceive. They re-
fleet the ceaseless struggle of ma
tions toward higher planes of life;
they hold the mirror up to every
enterprise end to every ideal and
purpose of social existence. BY
examination of them scholars may
verify the trends of progress, halted
as they are on occasion by war or
DETECTED as they are no less fire.
quently by revolution. Few events
fail of pailatelic connotation. Gov
ernments deliberately create So
called commemorative in honor
OF characters or incidents of which
they have reason to be proud
But philately as a universal ad-
tunct to the humane arts and SCI
ences was not launched upon sepa-
rate and distinct career until about
1858. when certin M. de Villayer
established petite poste in Paris for
local accommodation He had royal
sanction for his experiment, and sold
letter-covers or wrappers at two sous
Zone penny each. Letters inclosed
in such wrappers and dropped in
letter-boxes, were collected and de-
livered by lanquis footmen), who
removed from wrappers on delivery.
These wrappers were the first printed
franks, comparable to the stamped
envelopes and covers of modern
times If any American collector,
by courtesy of thoughtful ancestor,
owns specimens, he is fortunate in
deed and deserves the congratula-
tions of his less lucky brethren.
''The De Villayer innovation ap-
proximately century and a half
later was followed by the use of
stamped sheets of paper as a tax
device on correspondence in Sar-
DINA, but the tax was not an au-
thentic 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 ultimate
postal labels urged by Sir Rowland
Hill for Great Britain in 1840.
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. 1t
appeared in penny and two-penny
form on May 6, 1840, and was ex-
pected to meet an existing need sat-
isfactori1y. But the sponsor also
brought out on the same date
Queens head adhesives in like de-
nominations, and they hit the pub
lie fancy squarely. The moment
they were released, modern philately
was born. One man at least-a
country parson-understood what
was happening. Preserve this
stamp he wrote to girl relative,
because it one day may be valuable
my dear The letter found its way
at last into the possession of the
most widely famous philatelists, the
late King George w. and witnesses
In his collection to the enthusiasm
which has been the driving force of
stamp collectors as class from the
beginning.
Success in England soon was
duplicated In scattered portions of
the globe. In 1842, Henry T. Wind
STAMPS.