What books should a person who wants to take up stamp collecting have?

Answer 1

Books for Stamp CollectorsAny one of these would be a good starting point:

• Stamp Collecting for Dummies
• The Official Stamp Collector's Bible
• Stamp Collecting
• A First Stamp Album for Beginners
• All About Stamps: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Philatelic Terms
• The Official Blackbook Price Guide to U.S. Postage Stamps, 26th edition
• The Scott Postage Stamp Catalog is a great starting point. A bit expensive, it includes a full set of definitions of the terms and grading guidelines. It also will provide a listing of the stamps and postal issues of the countries you are interested in. Most libraries include a copy in their reference sections.

You might want to see if you can pick up the Scott catalogs at a second hand store. I picked mine up for a two dollars each at a library sale. They were a few years out of date, but the price of stamps doesn't change that fast and they are great for reference.

i just used a mini scrapbook. It won't be worth anything for a while anyway enjoy them.

I wouldn't recommend gluing stamps into a book - the stamps won't be worth anything. You should be able to pick up a bag of hinges cheap at many hobby stores or on eBay for next to nothing. Hinges are little tabs that stick to the back of the stamp and let you stick them into a scrapbook. If you want to remove them, you can do so without damaging the stamps. Preserves the quality of the stamps.

The best all around book for the intermediate collector would have to be the Scott Classic specialized catalog of stamps and covers. It gives you all the stamps of the world from the beginning to 1940. Colored pictures of each stamp is given as well. A great reference guide. It also has a comprehensive listing of U.S. If you are in Canada, the Unitrade catalog identifies all the variations etc.. Most countries have their own specialized book.