Rivoli and elsewhere, who sell the duplicates of gentlemen collectors on commisssion, are the dearest; and it is these latter who get from certain customers those almost fabulous prices we hear so much of.

I noticed lately, at one of the bals masqués de l'Opera, a curious instance of the popularity of postage stamps. A gentleman became the observed of all observers,' in a costume covered with postage stamps, many of them quite new. His cap, which was entirely composed of the 10 centimes à percevoir, bore the words, 'Pas assez affranchie,' inscribed in front in large gilt letters. This costume, which must have been very expensive, created a great sensation, and, to myself, was the most interesting in the building.

In concluding, let me advise any party forwarding stamps by post, either for the purpose of sale or exchange, to afford the expense of registering the letter, or enter into an arrangement with his correspondent, in case of real or pretended loss; as it strangely but frequently happens that letters containing postage stamps, get strayed or stolen. In such cases, I think the loss should be borne equally by the soi-disant sender and receiver, and that also positive proof of the loss should be given, which, in some cases that I could specify, appears something more than doubtful. Another symptom of the lack of honesty in postal dealings, is the quantity of fictitious stamps now in circulation. Some twelve months or so ago, we might have been taken in by many or all of them, but are now rather more wide awake, and repudiate the deceptions.

We are now enabled to afford a more specific notice of the new Turkish stamps. They are of four different values; the one figured by us, printed on rose-coloured paper, being the highest, viz., 5 piastres; that on blue paper is 2 piastres in value; there is a dingy violet-coloured 1 piastre; and a yellow one, 20 paras, or half a piastre. This last is also printed on brick-coloured paper, and usually makes up what is called the set of five; but our own album contains all the four denominations, printed on the same peculiar tint of light red. We have no information as to whether these latter are essays, or were issued for government use or otherwise. At first glance, the patterns on the four stamps appear similar, but a slight inspection will show that not only the devices in the upper corners, and that below the crescent, but even the framework, are different, and, of course, the characters denoting the monetary values. We may add that about 107 piastres go to the pound sterling. All the stamps bear, as we said before, the Sultan's sign-manual above, and the words, Ottoman Empire' in the crescent. The four extra stamps on the red paper are in other respects alike their congeners of equivalent value. In a complete sheet, the stamps are printed foot to foot, and between each stamp runs a narrow band of some strongly contrasting colour, which is by some means partially extracted so as to exhibit an inscription in Turkish characters of the same colour as the stamps themselves.

We do not know who was the designer of the new series for North Italy, of which one only (see engraving) has yet been issued, but we cannot say much in favour of his production. The essays of Messrs. Bradbury, exhibited in the British gallery of the International Exhibition, if adopted by the Italian government, would have been much more ornamental to the pages of a stampalbum. The 5 c., 10 c., 40 c., 80 c., and 3 lire, will not appear till the present issue of those values has been exhausted. Our engraving is supposed to be blue on white. In the third edition of M. Moens' catalogue, he says the 5 c. will be green; the 10 c.,

brown; the 40 c., orange; the 80 c., rose; the 3 lire, violet: the new values, 15 c., green; and the 30 c., blue; but as he is wrong in the only one of the series that has come out, he may be so in the rest, especially as he incorrectly foreshadowed them as bearing the royal arms.

The Segna Tassa (the promised engraving of which we insert) is orange, on white.

Hamburg, so fruitful in novelties, has again favoured

SECNA

(10.C.

(TASSA)

us with a set of new Boten, prettily designed, in ten various colours, which will be fully described in our next number in their proper place.

That most capricious of all islands, the Mauritius (we marvel how it chanced to be named after a man), has again added to our collections. The sixpenny envelope is no longer violet, but brown, and a one shilling yellow, not yet catalogued, appears.

It is

oval; queen's head to left; Mauritius postage, above; one shilling, underneath; in white relief on yellow ground. The shilling green adhesive, of the same type as the actual penny, twopenny, &c., but having the value inscribed in a minute oval on each side of the portrait, like the green sixpenny and yellow shilling, is also to be added to the Mauritian list; and, moreover, a sixpenny slate-coloured, of the Britannia group.

Two very beautifully engraved stamps have just come into our possession. They are from Bremen. One is scarlet and the other rose-coloured; but we forbear giving a detailed description of them yet, in the absence of official information.

We here give a representation of the original essay for Sicily; not as a new stamp, but as totally novel to most of our readers.

The expected Helvetia, 20 c., orange, is out at last; as are also the s. gr., green, and the 1 s. gr., rose, of Thurn and Taxis, north.

The Indian mail has just brought a New Zealand threepenny, brown.

We expect to describe the emissions of a

state hitherto unrepresented, in our next number.

ON POSTAGE-STAMP CATALOGUES. BY DR. J. E. GRAY, F.R.S., F.L.S., F.Z.S., ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

THE catalogues of postage stamps were first prepared and printed in France and Belgium. -countries where everything assumes an official, and not an individual character. The idea that first presented itself to the mind of the author, consequently, was to arrange the stamps of each country under the date of the ordonance by which they were issued; putting together all the stamps, whatever might be the difference of their type, that were issued at the same period.

Thus, in the first catalogues-those prepared by M. Alfred Potiquet, and published by Lacroix-the French stamps are arranged under those issued 1st January, 1849; August, 1849; December, 1849; 1st July, 1850; 30th July, 1850; and 12th September, 1850, and so on.

The Belgian catalogue, which followed shortly after, and which Lacroix says is nearly a copy of his list, adopted the same plan; and the English catalogues that followedas those which appeared under the name of a Stamp Collector, at Brighton, and by Mr. Mount Brown, in London-are little more than translations of these French and Belgian works they adopt without any change the official unscientific classification.

: :

The French and Belgian compiler of these catalogues, and their English translators, were at a loss when they came to describe the stamps of Great Britain and her colonies, which form so large a proportion of all collections of stamps, as we are not in the babit of issuing ordonances in the official papers when new stamps are issued; and, therefore, the date of issue is left blank, or the date of the publication of the catalogue is only inserted, showing that the stamps were then in circulation.

As only a very few postage stamps-as, for example, the old stamp of Spain, those of British Guiana, and a few other placescarry on their faces the date when they

were issued, consequently, it is impossible to determine, by the examination of the stamp, the exact time when they first came into use; though we are enabled, by the effigy they bear or by the inscription, sometimes to define the chronological sequence in which they followed each other.

It occurred to me that it would be better to arrange the stamps in my collection according to the design and inscription, without attempting to define the exact time of their issue; and this plan has the advantage of separating several stamps of different types, which were clustered together in the French and Belgian catalogues, and the translations of them, because they were over-looked when issued under the same ordonance and at the same period.

In fact, I made a catalogue of the stamps in my collection, and of those which I had seen in other collections, for my own use, on the same plan as I had been in the habit of making catalogues of shells, butterflies, and other natural objects, arranging the stamps according to the device or inscription on them; giving a short description of each type, and a short character of the variations from the original which each variety of the type presented.

On the publication of this list in Young England, Mr. Mount Brown, struck with the improvement in the description of the stamps, asked my permission to copy some of them for his new edition ; I granted him permission to do so, and the alterations and improvements made in his third edition are derived from this source; but still he arranges the stamps as they are in M. Moens' Belgian catalogue-according to the date of issuelumping several stamps under the same head. Thus, for example, the eight Sydney stamps I have described, belonging to three distinct types, are regarded as only three different values of the same stamp; and it is the same with the Peruvian, and many others.

- At the solicitation of some friends, I printed this catalogue in Young England. My collection of stamps having greatly increased, and my knowledge of the subject being extended, I was induced to revise that catalogue, and I gave the MSS. of the improved list to Mr. Hardwicke, who printed

In this catalogue an attempt was made to introduce the collector of stamps to the use of a systematic arrangement, such as naturalists have found so useful, thus trying to introduce into the collecting and arranging of stamps the same habit of accurate observation and careful comparison which the study of natural history has been found so successful in introducing, and which are so useful in all the affairs of life; which renders the study of natural history, and any other study that is conducted on the same principles, so useful as a branch of education; and thus attempting to convert the collecting of stamps from a mere pastime to a useful employment of time.

I am sorry to say, I still find many collections of stamps arranged in a promiscuous manner, so that it is difficult to make a comparison between the stamps that are nearly allied; and hence many varieties that are very distinct have been overlooked. Other collections are only arranged as ornaments, placed in formal figures; or some are mounted on coloured paper before they are inserted in the book; and others placed on pages that are so ornamented either with tawdry flags, arms, or complicated inscriptions, that the stamps are lost in the frame ornament with which they are surrounded.

I should recommend collectors who are satisfied with this kind of arrangement of their collections, to study the Petit Manuel de l'amateur des Timbres Postes, par Fois V***, who prepared engravings showing how stamps may be arranged according,

Firstly, to a Classification Genealogique ou ordre chronologique des emission de chaque

*It is stated in the last number that I am preparing another edition, to which I mean to append the private stamps. I have no such intention; for I have not the means of knowing the towns in which the local American stamps are issued, and without such infor mation, I regard a catalogue of them as of little use.

timbre. The plate showing them arranged on the stump of a tree, like a genealogical table.

Secondly, a Classification Heraldique, d' apres les amoires et les effigies des Souvrains de chaque etat. Also arranged on the stump of a tree, with effigies on one side, and the arms on the other.

Thirdly, a Classification Systematique, groupant les timbres suivant les colours pour leur etude comparative, where the stamps are arranged in a heraldic shield, in quarterings according to their positive colours.

In other respects this catalogue is inferior to the other French and Belgian ones, and about equal to the German catalogue published in Leipsic.

For young collectors figures are very useful; and the comparison of the stamps with the figures is also a useful exercise of the comparing powers. M. Moens, the Belgian dealer, is now publishing a very beautiful series of figures of the different types noticed in his catalogue; but this work is extensive, and consequently costly, though published at a cheap rate, compared with the beauty of its execution. Eight or nine parts have appeared, and it was supposed that it would be completed in twelve shilling numbers, but I hear that it is now proposed to run it on into a few more parts.

Mr. F. Booty, of Brighton, has published a Stamp Collector's Guide, which contains upwards of two hundred figures of stamps, representing the more prominent peculiarities and the chief forms. They are not firstrate as works of art, but they are sufficiently good to be always recognisable; and Mr. Booty is to be praised for his industry, as I believe that the text and drawings are all the labour of his own hands; and this has enabled him to publish the catalogue at so moderate a price as to be within the reach of most collectors.

Several papers have appeared in the cheap periodicals, as Cassell's Illustrated Family Paper, the Leisure Hour, &c., which are illustrated with woodcut figures, but they are generally only few in number.

The

best figures of this kind are those given in Mr. Whymper's paper, in No. 579 of the Leisure Hour. There are at least two

monthly periodicals devoted to the subject, and several catalogues, issued by dealers in stamps, which give good and useful figures of rare or new stamps.

REVIEWS OF POSTAL PUBLICATIONS. Le Timbre-Poste; Journal du Collectionneur. Brussels: J. B. MOENS.

THIS feuilleton, the second number of which is just published, emanates from the wellknown continental timbre merchant, and will be devoted solely to postal information for collectors. We give our readers a translation of part of the leading article in the first number, which will afford a good idea of the merits of the publication. It is entitled,

POSTAGE STAMPS, IN AN ARTISTIC POINT OF VIEW.

'On considering the crowd of stamps, so diverse in form, colour, and design, one is quite struck with the relation that generally exists between the degree of civilization of each country, and the more or less taste displayed in the execution of its postage stamps. Thus, without paying the smallest attention to their politics, and in judging them only by their stamps, should we be far from the truth in saying, that the Argentine Republic, Monte Video, Mexico, and Moldavia, must be less advanced, for instance, than the United States?

'After the stamps we have just cited, come, in order of merit, those of Italy, Piedmont, Modena, Parma, Naples, Tuscany, &c., which are but poorly executed. It would seem that Italy, once the mistress of the arts, must henceforth find it impossible to produce an engraver of any talent, incapable as it is of giving itself a stable government. Certain countries, as Bremen, Tour and Taxis, Luxembourg, Russia, and Sicily, are distinguished by the superior artistic execution of their postal impressions.

Such are

'Some countries affect whimsicalities. the Cape of Good Hope stamps, whose triangular shape is so appropriate to the place they represent; the Swan River stamp, symbolizing the colony by a beautiful swan; the early Nova Scotians, lozengeshaped; and, lastly, the Newfoundland threepenny, which is also, we know not why, triangular.

'The stamps best deserving notice, and which, much more eloquently than historians, show us the march of time, are, without contradiction, those of Honolulu. What would Captain Cook say, whom the subjects of Kameamea the Third's grandfather so miserably massacred, if he could return to earth, and see [on the postage stamps of the Sandwich Islands], in goldlaced coat and epaulettes, the grandson of the great Kameamea the First, whose full-dress uniform doubtless consisted of some fish-bones stuck through the cartilage of his nose.

'The German stamps are all well executed, but exhibit little or no originality.

'Some of the effigies of the United States stamps, as those of Washington, Franklin, and Lafayette [which are these latter? We search in vain for the name, in Moens' Manual], are of incontestable merit, and rank amongst the most beautiful. Besides these, the hundreds of different types met with there, vie with each other in insignificance. The fault is not in the execution, for they are usually well engraved, but we seek in vain among this host of vignettes, for any design, idea, or figure, bearing the imprint of artistic talent. It would be straying from the intent of this magazine, to seek the cause of this want of taste which characterises the North American; let us be content to say, that, devoted exclusively to the worship of the almighty dollar, he knows nothing of the arts, not even the meaning of the word.'

We think Mr. Moens rather hard upon our transatlantic cousins. He could not have been aware, when he penned his criticism, that the queen of stamps was engraved by a North American. Our own albuin contains upwards of a hundred and sixty individuals of local United States stamps, filling five pages; and a very cursory glance at them would remark very great originality and marvellous variety of design. The Philadelphia and Boston stamps, and Winan's city post, are great oddities.

"The French stamps are a combination of simplicity and elegance. Those of the Republic are distinguished by a truly republican severity of style; especially the 20 c., the black ground of which well shows out the features of the goddess. [We always thought the ground of this stamp was white, but bow to better authority]. Holland has stamps of great merit. [It is as well to be on good terms with one's neighbours.] Nicaragua has very pretty stamps; we possess some really magnificent ones.

'All national vanity apart, it must be agreed that Belgium possesses certainly the most beautiful stamps in the world; in design and engraving England alone has surpassed them.'

As there are some of the finest collections in the world in Belgium, that country certainly possesses the most beautiful postage stamps. If the author simply means to allude to the Belgian issue, those few favoured individuals who have been fortunate enough to see an undisfigured stamp of Belgium, can form their own judgment.

'At last we turn to the stamps of Great Britain and her colonies. If we have left them till the last, it is that they are of a merit so transcendent, and so vastly superior to other stamps, that they deserve a special mention, and all the concentrated attention of amateurs.

'Certes, the engraving tool of the English has been celebrated in all time. It is England that has pro

duced those magnificent engravings, those splendid illustrations, to which the continent, that still denies Great Britain the possession of artistic inspiration, has never yet produced an equivalent. But who could have imagined that the talent which easily displayed itself in engraving, would have alike displayed itself in minute vignettes, whose microscopic dimensions might have seemed to exclude it? Can anything be seen, in effect, more poetical, anything better imaging that sweet beauty which is the apanage of the daughters of Albion [Ladies of England, we suggest your immediately setting afoot a subscription, for a testimonial to your Belgian admirer!], than those delightful effigies of Queen Victoria, on the stamps of Canada, Nova Scotia, and Tasmania? Never, perhaps, has the engraver's art created aught more lovely in so circumscribed a space; and it is only to be regretted that these little master-pieces must ever be outraged by the cancelling-mark.'

Union Review. London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.

WE think the following notice of Dr. Gray's handbook, extracted from the March number of the above magazine, will amuse our readers :

'The history of collections and collectors, whenever it comes to be written, will almost always add another curious chapter to the curiosities of literature. Postage stamps and postage-stamp collectors have now arrived at the dignity of a history and a literature of their own. Dr. Gray, of the British Museum, has become their historian; and though his own book, A Hand Catalogue of Postage Stamps for the use of Collectors, might have seemed exhaustive of the subject, he tells us of upwards of twenty other works and pamphlets devoted to the pursuit. Without any depreciation of postage stamps, we should like to recommend, to such of our readers as are addicted to them, a new hobby for the use of collectors,'-turnpike-gate tickets. There is much in their favour; they afford a growing antiquarian interest, and are rapidly becoming a thing of the past, while postage stamps are still of vulgar daily use. They are already, at the least, in a transition state: turnpike roads falling out of use, turnpike gates as an institution, and turnpike-gate tickets with them, will soon also necessarily become extinct. Postage stamps, we are told by their historian, teach geography;' and not geography' only, but the very niceties and specialties of topography. Country history and parochial legislation are among the lessons to be learnt from a complete collection of turnpike tickets, and the study of their annals. So deeply, too, have they entered into our national life, that much of our proverbial philosophy-that garnered wisdom-draws thence its pithy phrases. Bilk the pike,' 'What's the ticket? Pay your toll,' 'Plain as a pike-staff,' are all examples;-'pike' being per syncope for turnpike, and having no relation to bayonets, but expressing by a bold metaphor what lies in one's very road. Then, again, how interesting are the great historical