The catalogue of François Valette--"Père Valette," as the juniors of the time used to call him--is the most remarkable of all the early works of this kind. It was more ambitious in its scientific treatment of the subject. Valette, already an elderly man in 1862, was "un érudit, un demi-savant," perhaps even a "savant tout entier." He was a contributor to the journal _La Science_ and acting-proprietor of the _Bazar Parizer_. His list was arranged on a synoptic basis, and his introductory essays are the most ambitious of any of the philatelic writings of 1862, the chapter on frauds and counterfeits providing a most conclusive indication of the extent to which stamp collecting was rapidly becoming a popular cult. "Old stamps having become rare, there are those who have sought methods of counterfeiting them." Valette's "tableaux synoptiques" are typical of the remarkable character of this work, and may be briefly summarised here as representing three styles of classification: (1) Genealogical; (2) heraldic; (3) systematic, the latter being a scheme for arranging the stamps according to their colours for comparison.
It was in Paris that the serious collectors first began to systematically note the watermarks and to measure the perforations. The collectors there were divided into two camps over the designation of the new study. Dr. Legrand, a veteran collector happily still with us, and still having a warm regard for the objects of his early studies, led the group who preferred the style of "timbrophile," while M. G. Herpin produced by a combination of the Greek words φίλος ("philos" = fond of), ἀτέλεια ("ateleia" = exemption from tax) the word _Philatèle_, which was accepted by many as indicating their interest in the little labels which denoted that the tax or postage had been paid. For a long time there was war between the rival camps, and to this day while Philately (ugly word as it is) is generally accepted in English-speaking countries and in many other places, _Timbrologie_ is still preferred by many of the French collectors, and is used in the title of the chief Parisian institution, the Société Française de Timbrologie.
Although several of the English dealers claim to have been engaged in the business prior to 1862, the study of stamps has been reduced to so exact a science that students are sceptical of mere reminiscence and require documental evidence to support claims of this kind. These should be forthcoming in advertisements in periodicals of the time, most of which have been thoroughly searched by the historian, and in early dated lists. In the order of their first known appearances in print as dealers Mr. P. J. Anderson, of the Aberdeen University Library, records from _The Boys' Own Magazine_, 1862, Mount Brown, J. J. Woods, Henry R. Victor, of Belfast, H. Stafford Smith, of Bath (September, 1862, founder of Stafford Smith and Smith, now Alfred Smith & Son), Edward L. Pemberton (October), and "Wm. Lincoln, jr., at W. S. Lincoln & Sons" (December, 1862). Of these the veteran Mr. Lincoln is still engaged in the business of stamp-dealing, as also are a son of Alfred Smith and a son of Edward L. Pemberton.