The history of stamp collecting 3, the first catalogue

Inspired by a series of articles by K. Kouwenberg that appeared in the monthly magazine Philatelie in the late 1970s, Rob Smit rewrites the history of stamp collecting in biweekly installments. This is part 3, 1861 – the first catalogue. Before I begin discussing the first catalogue, I would like to briefly return to the previous article, which discussed the very first description of a stamp collector. Thanks to a reader, the full text of the advertisement from 1841 is published below. Moreover, later descriptions show that John Edward Gray (1800-1875) purchased stamps as early as May 6, 1840, the issue date of the Penny Black, to keep them as collector's items, and could therefore be considered the very first collector.

John Edward Gray

We will return to John Edward Gray later in this series, as he plays a major role in the early history of philately. Around 1860, there were quite a few collectors, and the need for an overview or catalogue was great. Naturally, this was no easy task. There was absolutely no other option than to compare collections, possibly supplemented by some scarce data from postal administrations.

Oscar Berger-Levrault

The first catalogue is attributed to Oscar Berger-Levrault (1826-1903). He was a publisher and bookseller and owned a printing house in Strasbourg that had been family property since 1676. He was an enthusiastic stamp collector. According to the *Illustriertes Briefmarken Journal* from 1891, his collection contained some 350 different stamps in 1860. He then began compiling a list of all known stamps together with fellow collectors. On September 17, 1861, the list was printed in his printing house and distributed among his fellow collectors. This was the first philatelic printed work and can be considered a first catalogue. The list contained no fewer than 973 different stamps. Naturally, there turned out to be some errors in the list without images, but it was a start. About 50 copies of this first edition were printed. The British Museum in London owns a copy of the first printing from September. The second printing appeared as early as December 1861. The third edition appeared in June 1862, by then comprising 16 pages. In total, ten editions were published up to and including 1864. By that time, many others were already publishing illustrated catalogues, usually based in part on the pioneering work of Berger-Levrault. Berger-Levrault continued his philatelic studies and published a handbook in 1864. This 114-page German-language book was titled: 'Beschreibung der bis jetzt bekannten Briefmarken (mehr als 2200 sorten) nebst Notizen über die nachgedruckte Marken und eine Anleitung zur Einrichtung von Sammlungen'. In 1867, the French-language 'Catalogue méthodique et descriptif de tous les timbres-poste connus' was published by him. Above is an image of a copy that was auctioned at Köhler in 2012. To be continued on May 28 with the first illustrated catalogue.