[1] "Select Committee on Postage, First Report, 1838," p. 122, questions 1829, 1830.
[2] It should be remembered that newspapers had for many years (since 1712) been the subject of a tax, and until 1855, when the newspaper tax was abolished, such papers passed through the post free.
[4] _Athenæum_, No. 1836, January 3, 1863, p. 18.
[5] Nos. 1834 (December 20, 1862) and 1835 (December 27, 1862).
[7] Mr. John Collins Francis refers to this issue in his two volumes, "John Francis and _The Athenæum_," published by Bentley in 1888.
[8] It is said to have cost £1,000; the art of the label cost, to Mr. Corbould £12 12s., to Mr. Heath £52 10s.
"Hobbyhorsical" collections--The application of the term "Foreign Stamp Collecting"--The Stamp Exchange in Birchin Lane--A celebrated lady stamp-dealer--The Saturday rendezvous at the All Hallows Staining Rectory--Prominent collectors of the first period--The first stamp catalogues--The words _Philately_ and _Timbrologie_--Philatelic periodicals--Justin Lallier's albums--The Philatelic Society, London.
We have already seen something of the growth of the postage-stamp idea among the nations of the world. It will now be convenient for us to discuss the manner in which these postage-stamps first came to be regarded in the light of _objets de curiosité_. From the beginning of the postage-stamp system there is no doubt many people of advanced ideas took a very keen interest in the success of the new institution. The accumulating of the stamps by individuals began almost immediately after their issue in 1840, as is clear from the advertisement in _The Times_ of 1841 in which "A young lady being desirous of covering her dressing room with cancelled postage-stamps" invited the assistance of strangers in her fanciful project. This is probably typical of the character and _motif_ of the collecting until _circa_ 1850, and _Punch's_ quip (1842) that the ladies of England betrayed more anxiety to treasure up Queen's heads than King Henry VIII. did to get rid of them, has served to perpetuate the popular early definition of the stamps of the Victorian reign as "Queen's heads."
This form of collecting was "hobbyhorsical" in the extreme; it recognised no other objects than the attainment of numbers, or the production of a new form of wall-paper, using the old stamps as the _tesseræ_ of a mosaic. At these times collecting was probably considered a test of the _bona fides_ of philanthropic appellants, for we trace to the earliest decade of stamp issuing the popular notion that the accumulated treasure of a million of old stamps will provide an "open sesame" for an orphan into a home, or that in old age one may find a haven of rest in an asylum. There is the grain of truth in the latter prospect which is sufficient to perpetuate a great error. To take a million stamps collected from old letters to any asylum might well ensure a ready admittance and hospitable retention.