The Library at The Royal Philatelic Society London

Library & Research Facilities

In October 2019 we opened our new library and research room at 15 Abchurch Lane. These purpose built facilities are designed to provide a modern and comfortable space for Members and visiting researchers to make use of our collections.
 
The library is open from 9.30a.m-4.30p.m Monday to Friday (only Members and invited guests are permitted to use the library on meeting days). It is staffed by professionally qualified staff who will be happy to assist with your enquiries. An appointment is not necessary to consult the library; however, if there is specific material you wish to view then it is advisable to contact the library staff beforehand (see details below) to ensure you can make the most of your visit.

You can view our catalogue by following this link and selecting ‘The Royal Philatelic Society London’ in the dropdown menu. 

For further information please contact us on 0207 486 1044 or research@rpsl.org.uk.

Please use the copyright declaration form attached here when requesting copies or scans of copyrighted material.

The History of the Library

The library can trace its beginnings back to 1886 when two members, John K.Tiffany and William Image presented the Society with works of philatelic literature.  In the Proceedings of this meeting the hope was expressed that, as the Society now had ‘the nucleus of a valuable philatelic library’, other members would follow the example of those gentlemen and contribute to the collection. This hope was not in vain and over 130 years later the generosity of the Society’s members and philatelic friends has produced one of the leading philatelic libraries in the world.

Many significant libraries from individuals and other societies have been acquired over the years. Among the first was that of Heinrich Fraenkel of Berlin, whose library was bought by the Earl of Crawford. Crawford incorporated what he needed into his own collection and donated the balance to the Society, thus forming the basis of our extensive holding of European language periodicals. Over 500 volumes were presented in 1916 by Franz Reichenheim and, a year later, the library of the Immediate Past President Marcellus P. Castle was received as a bequest. Those with an interest in the history of philately and the great philatelists will notice the bookplates, signatures and hand-written notes evidencing the significant provenance of many of our items.

The earliest philatelic incunabula is strongly represented in our collection including the early catalogues of Oscar Berger-Levrault, Alfred Potiquet, Frederick Booty, Ferdinand Mount Brown, and Dr Edward Gray being present.

The Society’s exhibtion collection includes items from 1881 to date relating to international, UK national and other specialist exhibitions. This provides valuable information on events generally, lists of exhibitors and awards made. The literature frequently includes philatelic information and articles not available elsewhere.

An important and exciting new chapter began in 2019 when we moved to Abchurch Lane and into facilities specially designed to provide the best possible conditions for the collections and the people who use them.  The new library has been named in honour of RPSL Past President John Sacher.  

Library Collections

Books

Our book collection comprises approximately 30,000 books, monographs and pamphlets arranged alphabetically by country.  There are also sections on Thematics, Forgeries, Airmail, Maritime Mail and Military Mail, plus a General section consisting of books on topics such as philatelic personalities, exhibiting, design & printing, societies and collecting.

The Reference section includes a range of research aids including bibliographies, indexes, philatelic dictionaries and atlases. 

Also available for reference is a large collection of stamp catalogues, including specialised catalogues for many collecting areas and a near complete range of Stanley Gibbons catalogues.

Journals

There are over 3,700 distinct journal titles in the library’s collection.  These include some of the earliest produced philatelic periodicals dating from the 1860s.  We currently receive issues of over 270 active titles.

Current issues are available for browsing in the Members’ Lounge on the Ground Floor.  Recent unbound issues are kept in the library.  Once volumes are bound they are kept in our closed access storage and are available on request.  The exception to this is The London Philatelist, which is shelved by the main reader desk in the library. 

We also have a number of journal indexes available for reference.  
 

Auction Catalogues

The library holds over 30,000 auction catalogues from auction houses around the world, including some dating back to the 1870s and rarities from the 1930s.

The vision is to list every auction catalogue that ever existed in an “Authority File”.

The various screens below enable seeing the existance of a Catalogue, whether it is Held by RPSL or Wanted.

In addition, there are links to some digitised catalogues, which may be on the Auction Houses own web site or digitised by RPSL (or others).

Auction Sale Catalogues Menu

Houses in DatabaseHoldingsRecent AdditionsDigital

Digital Resources

Members may visit the links below to view our digital resources:

Guides and Books

The London Philatelist Digital Edition

The De La Rue Collection

Recorded Webinars

Using the Library

The Society warmly welcomes Members of the Society and visiting researchers to use the library.

Studying in the library

  1. Consumption of food or drink is not permitted in the library and research room, please visit the Members’ lounge for refreshments.   
  2. After consulting material, please place items on the library trolley for staff and volunteers to reshelve them.  This enables us to monitor which items in the collections are being used and to check their condition. 
  3. Journals, auction catalogues and other closed-access material will need to be retrieved by a member of staff.  To ensure you get the most out of your visit, it is advisable to request such items beforehand by telephoning 02074861044 or emailing research@rpsl.org.uk. 
  4. Rare items and archives must be viewed in the research room.  Please contact us to make an appointment. 

Borrowing (Members only)

  1. Only items from the Book Collection are available for loan.  Stamp Catalogues, Journals, Auction Catalogues and Restricted-Access material are all available for reference only. 
  2. Members are permitted to borrow 3 books at a time for a period of up to 4 weeks.  Renewal may be possible if there is not a request for the item.   
  3. To borrow a book, please take it to the library desk to be checked-out by a member of staff.  All library items are secured with RFID tags which have to be deactivated for the item to be removed from the building.
  4. When returning an item please hand in to a member of staff at the library desk so they can discharge it from your record.     
  5. The member borrowing a book is responsible for its safe custody until returned to the library.  In the event of loss or damage to the item the member will be required to provide a replacement or compensation as designated by Council. 
  6. Members may borrow books by post (subject to postage costs). Unfortunately, this is currently only available to UK based members.     

Photocopying and Scanning

Under current UK Copyright legislation, photocopying or scanning from publications is permitted for personal research purposes as long as the amount is ‘fair and justifiable’.  For guidance, 5% or one chapter of a book or one article from a journal issue would be considered reasonable. 

Please use the copyright declaration form attached here when requesting copies or scans of copyrighted material.