The British Library has digitised and released The Row Collection of Siam (Thailand), 1881–1918, making one of the earliest specialist philatelic studies of a single country freely accessible online. Available globally through the Internet Archive, the collection focuses on postage stamps, postal stationery, and postal markings from a transformative period in Thai history. Compiled by British zoologist and philatelist Richard Williams Harold Row (1884–1919), it contains 24,473 items across 1,358 pages in twenty-three volumes and remains a landmark example of meticulous philatelic research.
According to Richard Scott Morel, Curator of the British Library Philatelic Collections, stamps issued under King Chulalongkorn and King Vajiravudh served as potent symbols of the Chakri dynasty’s modernisation efforts and assertion of sovereignty as Siam resisted colonial influence. The online release includes high-resolution 600 dpi PDF scans supported by browsable metadata through the UK National Archives’ Discovery catalogue, enabling detailed study and responsible reuse under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC license.
The initiative represents the first stage in a broader programme to digitise the Library’s philatelic holdings, with invitations extended to researchers and societies to contribute to future development.
The first volume of the Memoirs of the Italian Academy of Philately and Postal History, edited by Clemente Fedele and Thomas Mathà, marks the revival of a distinguished scholarly tradition linking philately, postal history, and cultural research. Heir to the earlier Academy of Philatelic and Numismatic Studies, the institution renews the practice of publishing memoirs as tools for knowledge sharing and preservation. The theme of this inaugural volume, “Epidemics and Communications,” stems from the 2023 Bolzano conference and explores how disease outbreaks shaped postal systems over time.
The editors’ introduction, Lettere appestate, frames the topic through historical and philatelic lenses, revealing how letters—despite being potential carriers of contagion—remained essential for information exchange and crisis management. The essays that follow examine postal disinfection, sanitary controls, and the intertwining of public health and communication routes, with case studies spanning Trentino–Bolzano, Verona, Tuscany, Corsica, Liguria, and beyond. A notable feature is Fedele’s extensive bibliographic section containing over 600 references, alongside indexes and member lists that enhance its research value.
More than proceedings, the volume is a reflection on resilience, communication, and collective memory. It highlights disinfected letters as historical witnesses rather than curiosities, offering insight into past strategies for confronting epidemics—an echo profoundly relevant in the post-pandemic present.
Details: size 28 × 21 cm, 144 pages, fully in colour, hardcover, ISBN 9791224302964. Available from Vaccari, €40.
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https://fepanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/memorie2025-800.jpg800800Costas Chazapishttps://fepanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/fepanews_logo-107x138-1.pngCostas Chazapis2025-12-05 17:11:032025-12-05 17:14:59Memoirs of the Italian Academy of Philately and Postal History
The new book by Semaan Bassil, British Mail in the Levant: The Beirut Postal Hub (1836–1914), dives into intensive research on British postal history in the region. Using primary and secondary sources extensively, it contextualises and analyses postal artefacts while offering rich, detail-oriented historical information, focusing on the influence of geopolitics and the positioning of Beirut for British postal communication over 75 years.
It starts in 1836 with the conveyance of British mail to and from India by the British Admiralty via Beirut, then recounts the British packet agency in that city, handing mail for Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia from 1840. It goes on to describe how the General Post Office in London strategically decided to subcontract different liners in 1872 to speed communication with Beirut, before converting its packet agency in 1873 into a post office, in parallel with the erosion of Britain’s world economic preeminence. It ends with the start of the First World War in 1914, when all foreign post offices closed.
Woven throughout the book are numerous examples of pre- and post-UPU analysed British mail and, notably, the study dedicates a full chapter to listing and analysing British mixed-franked postage mail used only in Beirut (1873–1876) for expediting overseas mail via Alexandria. The publication ends with a list of postage stamps used at the British Post Office in Beirut, of which several are unrecorded in any publication, including catalogues.
The 292-page book can be obtained through the author at bassil.semaan@gmail.com or through info@cedarstamps.com. It is priced at 75 USD, excluding shipping. The net proceeds will be donated to CHANCE (Children Against Cancer).
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https://fepanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/bassil_2025-800.jpg800800Costas Chazapishttps://fepanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/fepanews_logo-107x138-1.pngCostas Chazapis2025-12-03 12:33:072025-12-03 12:47:10British Mail in the Levant: The Beirut Postal Hub (1836–1914)
The British Library Digitises Landmark Siam Collection, 1881–1918
The British Library has digitised and released The Row Collection of Siam (Thailand), 1881–1918, making one of the earliest specialist philatelic studies of a single country freely accessible online. Available globally through the Internet Archive, the collection focuses on postage stamps, postal stationery, and postal markings from a transformative period in Thai history. Compiled by British zoologist and philatelist Richard Williams Harold Row (1884–1919), it contains 24,473 items across 1,358 pages in twenty-three volumes and remains a landmark example of meticulous philatelic research.
According to Richard Scott Morel, Curator of the British Library Philatelic Collections, stamps issued under King Chulalongkorn and King Vajiravudh served as potent symbols of the Chakri dynasty’s modernisation efforts and assertion of sovereignty as Siam resisted colonial influence. The online release includes high-resolution 600 dpi PDF scans supported by browsable metadata through the UK National Archives’ Discovery catalogue, enabling detailed study and responsible reuse under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC license.
The initiative represents the first stage in a broader programme to digitise the Library’s philatelic holdings, with invitations extended to researchers and societies to contribute to future development.
Explore the Row Collection today: https://archive.org/details/the-row-collection
For further information please email richard.morel@bl.uk
…
Memoirs of the Italian Academy of Philately and Postal History
The first volume of the Memoirs of the Italian Academy of Philately and Postal History, edited by Clemente Fedele and Thomas Mathà, marks the revival of a distinguished scholarly tradition linking philately, postal history, and cultural research. Heir to the earlier Academy of Philatelic and Numismatic Studies, the institution renews the practice of publishing memoirs as tools for knowledge sharing and preservation. The theme of this inaugural volume, “Epidemics and Communications,” stems from the 2023 Bolzano conference and explores how disease outbreaks shaped postal systems over time.
The editors’ introduction, Lettere appestate, frames the topic through historical and philatelic lenses, revealing how letters—despite being potential carriers of contagion—remained essential for information exchange and crisis management. The essays that follow examine postal disinfection, sanitary controls, and the intertwining of public health and communication routes, with case studies spanning Trentino–Bolzano, Verona, Tuscany, Corsica, Liguria, and beyond. A notable feature is Fedele’s extensive bibliographic section containing over 600 references, alongside indexes and member lists that enhance its research value.
More than proceedings, the volume is a reflection on resilience, communication, and collective memory. It highlights disinfected letters as historical witnesses rather than curiosities, offering insight into past strategies for confronting epidemics—an echo profoundly relevant in the post-pandemic present.
Details: size 28 × 21 cm, 144 pages, fully in colour, hardcover, ISBN 9791224302964. Available from Vaccari, €40.
…
British Mail in the Levant: The Beirut Postal Hub (1836–1914)
The new book by Semaan Bassil, British Mail in the Levant: The Beirut Postal Hub (1836–1914), dives into intensive research on British postal history in the region. Using primary and secondary sources extensively, it contextualises and analyses postal artefacts while offering rich, detail-oriented historical information, focusing on the influence of geopolitics and the positioning of Beirut for British postal communication over 75 years.
It starts in 1836 with the conveyance of British mail to and from India by the British Admiralty via Beirut, then recounts the British packet agency in that city, handing mail for Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia from 1840. It goes on to describe how the General Post Office in London strategically decided to subcontract different liners in 1872 to speed communication with Beirut, before converting its packet agency in 1873 into a post office, in parallel with the erosion of Britain’s world economic preeminence. It ends with the start of the First World War in 1914, when all foreign post offices closed.
Woven throughout the book are numerous examples of pre- and post-UPU analysed British mail and, notably, the study dedicates a full chapter to listing and analysing British mixed-franked postage mail used only in Beirut (1873–1876) for expediting overseas mail via Alexandria. The publication ends with a list of postage stamps used at the British Post Office in Beirut, of which several are unrecorded in any publication, including catalogues.
The 292-page book can be obtained through the author at bassil.semaan@gmail.com or through info@cedarstamps.com. It is priced at 75 USD, excluding shipping. The net proceeds will be donated to CHANCE (Children Against Cancer).
…