r meetings are held for the friendly
exchange of duplicates.

In the provinces, the principal societies are those of Manchester and
Birmingham. The Birmingham Society possesses a collection of its own,
which it keeps up to date, as a work of reference for its members.
Several of the societies hold periodical exhibitions, in which members
compete for medals, and in many other ways they lay themselves out to
encourage and promote the collection of postage stamps as a popular
pastime.

The names of the various societies and the addresses of the
secretaries are published at the commencement of each winter season in
Stanley Gibbons' _Monthly Journal_.

Apart from their pleasant sociability, these societies are of immense
help to the collector, especially to the beginner. At each meeting
papers are read and discussed, in which the most experienced
collectors retail, for the benefit of the less experienced, the result
of their latest researches, and eminent specialists display their
splendid and carefully-arranged collections for the inspection,
edification, and enjoyment of their fellow-members. This continual
meeting and comparing of notes, this concentration of study upon the
issues of a particular country, gradually ripens even the veriest tyro
into an advanced and experienced collector.

Under such conditions difficulties are cleared up, and the way made
plain for wise and safe collecting. In too many lines of collecting
the specialist carefully guards his knowledge for his own ultimate
personal profit. The Philatelist, on the other hand, is more
frequently than not generously and candidly helpful to his less
advanced fellow-collector, especially if he happens to be a
fellow-member of the same philatelic society.

[Illustration:]

[Illustration:]

XI.

The Literature of Stamps.

Few hobbies, if any, can boast of such a varied and extensive
literature as stamp collecting. Expensive works have been published on
the postal issues of most countries. They have been published in
English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, and Swedish.
Those published in English alone would make a library of some hundreds
of volumes.

From its foundation, in 1869, the Philatelic Society of London has set
itself the task of studying and writing up the postal history of Great
Britain and her Colonies. Towards the accomplishment of this great
task, it has already presented its members with splendid monographs on