Catalogue of Books on Philately in the Public Library of the City of Boston

Boston Public LibraryProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.4

Word count: 71K words
Chapters: 8

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Catalogue of books on philately in the Public Library of the city of BostonAuthor: Boston Public Library,Language: English, Class: Z: Bibliography, Library science, Release Date: Oct 1, 2013

Editor's review

This is a bibliographic catalogue of philatelic literature held by the Public Library of the City of Boston, falling under bibliography and library science (class Z), with an electronic edition released by Project Gutenberg. Its value lies in recording the philatelic books collected by a particular library in a particular period, offering verifiable leads for the history of philately, the history of book collecting, and bibliographical research. Readers can see how philatelic literature was classified, how entries were catalogued, and how a public library of the time organized a subject collection. It is not an introductory book on stamp collecting and offers no stamp authentication or market prices; it is all the more useful when treated as a retrieval tool or research material. Readers are advised to focus on entry structure, subject terms, and holdings information rather than reading it from cover to cover. For librarians, bibliographers, and researchers in the history of philately, it is a basic reference convenient for citation and comparison.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Researchers in the history of philately and postal history
Librarians working on bibliography and collection development
Library and information science students needing sample subject bibliographies

Not a good fit for

Beginners in stamp collecting who want to learn authentication and market investment
Readers expecting an illustrated stamp catalogue
Those needing a systematic introductory course in philately

Reading tips

First browse the classification framework and cataloguing format, then examine in detail the entries relevant to your own research topic.
Compare catalogue entries with the library's holdings or online bibliographies to practice subject literature retrieval.
If used in a paper, distinguish catalogue records from actual holdings status and avoid citing them directly as collection conclusions.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Can this catalogue serve as an introductory book on philately?

No. It is a holdings catalogue of philatelic books in the Public Library of the City of Boston, recording bibliographic information such as titles and authors; it does not explain stamp knowledge, authentication methods, or market prices. It is better suited as a documentary lead than as an introductory course.

Can all the books in the catalogue be borrowed from the library?

The material only indicates that this is a catalogue of the library's philatelic books and does not guarantee that the listed entries are currently held or available for loan. Holdings change over time, so the library's current catalogue and lending rules should be consulted.

What use is it to ordinary readers?

Ordinary readers can use it as a window into the landscape of philatelic literature and see what topics early philatelic writing covered. If an entry interests them, they can search for the full text or holdings by title or author and follow the trail.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Boston Public Library Author · American

The Boston Public Library is a public library in Boston, United States, founded in 1848 and holding rich local history materials and rare books. As a corporate author, it has only one work in this collection: Catalogue of books on philately in the Public Library of the city of Boston, a catalogue of the library's holdings on stamp collecting. The catalogue reflects the library's function of organizing special collections and compiling bibliographies, serving researchers in philately and book history. Public information on the library's founders, successive positions, and specific scale is limited, so it is not expanded here. Judging from the available work, its compiling direction focuses on collection catalogues and subject documentation, with a practical style and detailed descriptions that provide a basic tool for retrieving postal history and philatelic literature.