The PostImage Museum (1), the first stamp album

In the PostBeeld store in Haarlem, a reconstructed 19th-century stamp shop stands right by the entrance. The shop's display windows house a collection of old philatelic literature and everyday objects. It is Rob Smit's private collection. In a series of articles, Rob occasionally brings out a museum piece and talks about it. Naturally, you can view the originals at PostBeeld.The oldest philatelic book in my collection dates from 1863. It seems like a good start to this series of articles. As you know, the first postage stamp appeared in 1840. From the 19s onwards, the number of collectors of these small colored pictures grew rapidly, and with it, the trade in them. In major cities such as London, Paris, and Brussels, there were already various dealers for whom the stamp trade had become an important, or even the sole, source of income. One of those first dealers in Paris was Justin Lallier (1823–1873). Lallier conceived the idea that an album with compartments to paste the various stamps into might be beneficial to his business, and consequently, in August 1862, he launched the world's first stamp album (in French). By then, quite a few stamps had been issued, and the album therefore has room for some 1200 stamps. The stamps are arranged by country, with descriptions in the frames and illustrated with a national coat of arms. The accompanying photo shows an image of the Netherlands page. It features three stamps, as the second issue would not appear until two years later (the four remaining frames have been added). The album is a bound edition with space for all stamps issued up to that point. Supplements were not yet considered. Transferring your stamps to another album later was probably not very simple either, as adhesive stamps did not yet exist. The stamps were simply pasted in with glue. Lallier was likely quite business-minded. He managed to sell licenses for the album. An English-language edition appeared in the same year. In the Low Countries, the publisher WF Dannenfelser in Utrecht showed interest in translating and publishing it. Thus, the first Dutch-language stamp album appeared in 1863. This is the album on display in the showcase at PostBeeld.