Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Adhesive Postage Stamps of Europe

The Adhesive Postage Stamps of Europe

Westoby, William Amos Scarborough 18

Paperback

Series: Frontier Model Bibliophile

General ReferenceGeneral World HistoryStamps

ISBN13: 9798259501843
Publisher: Frontier Model Bibliophile
Published: Jul 7 2026
Pages: 520
Weight: 3.54
Height: 1.41 Width: 8.50 Depth: 11.00
Language: English
W. A. S. Westoby's 1898 survey of European adhesive postage stamps represents one of the most ambitious philatelic reference works of the Victorian era, cataloging the stamp issues of every European postal authority from the first adhesive stamps of Great Britain in 1840 through the final decade of the nineteenth century. This Frontier Model Bibliophile edition brings this scarce and historically important reference back into print in a modern format, preserving Westoby's original text and illustrations for a new generation of collectors, postal historians, and researchers. Westoby undertook the enormous task of systematically describing the stamps of dozens of European nations, principalities, duchies, and postal administrations, many of which have since been absorbed into larger states or reorganized beyond recognition. His entries for the German states alone cover a bewildering variety of issues from Bavaria, Saxony, Prussia, Hanover, Brunswick, Hamburg, Lubeck, Oldenburg, and numerous other entities that maintained independent postal systems before unification. Similarly, his treatment of the Italian states, the Austro-Hungarian postal territories, and the Scandinavian kingdoms captures a Europe of small sovereignties and overlapping postal jurisdictions that no longer exists. For each issuing authority, Westoby provides descriptions of stamp designs, printing methods, paper types, perforation measurements, watermark details, and known varieties, drawing on the best philatelic knowledge available in the late 1890s. His entries on the classic issues of Great Britain, France, Spain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands remain useful starting points for collectors interested in the foundational period of European philately, while his coverage of smaller and more obscure postal entities preserves information that can be difficult to locate in modern catalogs focused primarily on major nations. The Romanian, Greek, and Portuguese sections are particularly valuable for collectors venturing beyond the major Western European nations, as they document early issues that are now highly sought after. The historical value of the work extends beyond pure philately. Westoby was writing at the height of European imperialism, and his catalog implicitly documents the political geography of a continent that would be transformed beyond recognition by two world wars. The postal systems he describes functioned as instruments of state sovereignty, and their stamps reflected national identities, dynastic claims, and territorial ambitions in miniature. Reading his entries for the Ottoman Empire's European provinces, or for the Free City of Hamburg, is to encounter a vanished political order preserved in the smallest and most portable of artifacts. Collectors of classic European stamps, postal historians, and researchers interested in the development of philatelic scholarship will find this reissue an invaluable reference. The Frontier Model Bibliophile edition ensures that Westoby's comprehensive survey remains available in affordable print form rather than surviving only in rare book rooms and specialized auction lots.

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