I started collecting stamps in 2003 and joined Bexley Philatelic Society later that year. Every February, BPS have a competition which includes an 8-page thematic display and so in 2007 I entered my first competition.

I came a respectable fourth out of seven, which, given my idiosyncratic approach, is a result. I intended to enter three displays in 2007/08:

I managed the 1850-51 and came 2nd, but missed the target for February 2008, lacking some essential stamps for 1852-53 and deciding that the 1937-45 needed a rethink.

Here's the original entry

First Issues - 1840 to 1849
and aspects of first issue collecting

This display is part of a collection of the first stamp issues from every country. It comprises (where available) the first stamp, commemorative, airmail, charity stamp, official and post due label. The full collection can be seen online at snap-dragon.com.

The two formative influences in starting the collection were the excellent US-based First Issue Collectors' Club, which studies the subject,  and The Guinness Book of Stamps by James MacKay, which includes a listing of most of the relevant stamps for the period 1840 to 1986.

One of the advantages of this topic it that it introduces the collector to the full breadth of the history and geography of stamp history while limiting the effort and expense involved.

 Great Britain

It starts, of course, right here on 6^th May 1840, thanks largely to the efforts of Rowland Hill. It is interesting to note that the first GB charity issue was not until 1975 and was not popular: there was another attempt with charity stamps for the Christmas 1989 issue, again unsuccessful.

GB’s first official airmail issue was in 2003 (please form an orderly queue for discussions on what was the first GB airmail).

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