The Armchair Traveler:

Through Space and Time with Stamps

By Jeremy A. Lifsey

The Collector
I have always been a collector. In the beginning, my tastes were pretty conventional: I looked for the traditional and the easy to find, such as coins, pretty rocks, campaign buttons, matchbook covers, stamps, and seashells. I never collected hotel coat hangers, beer cans, or bottle caps. Antique cars wouldn’t fit in my apartment. Nor would coats of armor. Art was too expensive. As the years went on, though, I dropped most of my collecting activities and became obsessed with stamps. They were the most expedient of my collections: They took up the least amount of space and, except for the rarities, were easily affordable.

Unfortunately, no one in my family shared my fascination with stamps. Not my wife, my children, or any of my grandchildren. I had a roomful of little pieces of paper, and no one wanted them. I had been retired for many years and was faced with the disappointing prospect that the stamps I loved and worked so hard to accumulate would be dispensed to strangers, and nothing of my passion would remain in the family.

The Writer and Traveler
So, I decided to write a book. Suddenly, the family was interested. A book was something they would keep. The subject might not be one they would have chosen, but books seem to command universal respect, whatever the topic. A book is something lasting and tangible that represents creativity. You can put it on a coffee table or read it in the bathtub. Books are fun; in my family, you never throw away a book. But what to write about?

Everybody loves to travel, especially to foreign lands. I was no different. Unfortunately, money was limited, so traveling wherever and whenever I desired was out of the question. And most of my colleagues were in the same position. The idea occurred to me to write about vicarious travel. At the same time, I wanted to bring into play my stamp collection—the challenge lay in how to tie travel and stamps together. When I researched “armchair” travel sites on the Internet, I found myself looking at other people’s photographs, experiencing their adventures, and going where they wanted to go. I wanted my own trip.

Stamps, Writing, and Traveling
More than 300 countries, local governments, and private organizations have issued stamp booklets. Here is how these treasures came about. In the late 1800s, stamps were sold in small quantities that crushed and creased when carried in pockets, purses, or wallets. Customers clamored for stamps to be issued in little protective packages. The postal services obliged and made products available in small books, that is, a front and back cover, with stamps between.

To keep the sheets of stamps from sticking together, interleaves were placed between them. It didn’t take long for governments to realize that they could print messages on the covers and the interleaves, and so they sold advertising space in their stamp booklets. It was obvious that the messages and pictures in these advertisements represented life in societies and cultures that existed decades ago. The content was designed to make the stamp buyer take some action beneficial to and desired by the people paying for the advertisement. By trying to understand the intent behind this content, I was able to gain some sense of the country’s culture at the time the booklets were issued. Thus, the stamps could give me an idea of where to start my journey, one that I would shape according to my interests.

A Magic Carpet
Now that I had a topic, writing the book proved easy. Choosing a title that would attract readers and reflect the content was another matter, however. I finally settled on Stamp Booklets: Magic Carpets to Adventure, with the subtitle Travel Through Space and Time and Have Fun Along the Way. (You can read more about the book and me online at Travel and Stamps.)

Magic carpets may seem fanciful, but, in truth, our own reality engages the imagination. Technology has placed the world at our fingertips, not only when we use the Internet but also in libraries, newspaper archives, tourist bureaus, museums, government agencies, and on film. We just need a starting point—like the one supplied by a stamp booklet.

Imagine looking at a stamp booklet from Montserrat that shows beautiful beaches and golf courses. It is an idyllic place to visit—or at least it was when the booklet was issued in 1975. Twenty years later, a volcano erupted and covered half the Caribbean island with ashes. Most of the population left. To find out what has happened since then, I contacted the Montserrat Tourist Bureau, and the people there supplied me with research papers about animal populations, the exodus of people, and the volcano’s effect on the economy.

Or, consider an advertisement for the Avenue Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. I learned from a Library of Congress staff member how to locate and contact some of the people who lived there in the 1950s and could describe life in Nairobi at that time.

An advertisement in a French booklet led me to the Atlantic coastal town of Mornac sur Seudre, touted as one of the most beautiful villages in France. It thrives on the oyster trade. Again, a tourist bureau was able to assist me in my virtual trip.

Photos abound on the Internet. Many wonderful ones would have eluded me, however, if it hadn’t been for the stamp booklets that started me on my journey. A booklet from Bhutan included pictures of dzongs—fortresses built in the 1600s to protect vital parts of the country. With the Internet’s help, I can imagine myself walking in the mountains where these mighty structures stand.

Could I have found information and photographs in other ways? Yes, certainly. Travel magazines, geographic publications, and, of course, newspapers and magazines from years ago offer insights into other times and places. The stamp booklet is just one of many ways to travel vicariously.

A Worthwhile Hobby
Using stamp booklets as a springboard to investigate various cultures has another great advantage. The search for booklets of interest is a constructive pursuit—one way to fill your leisure time pleasurably. This hobby widens vistas, offering opportunities for new friendships, increased knowledge, potential for investment, and sheer enjoyment.

Booklet collecting is basically a solitary pursuit. Nonetheless, friendships will develop naturally as you set goals and seek to fulfill them. You might join a stamp club or attend seminars. You can communicate with fellow collectors, who will offer insights and expose you to other viewpoints. By reading stamp newspapers and journals, you may make new acquaintances with whom you can correspond. Online auctions offer items of interest and allow you to dispose of stuff you no longer want.

Learning is a given when you collect stamp booklets. Because of the extra printed matter therein, booklets offer so much more than the information shown on the stamps. In addition to the historical, geographical, cultural, charitable, and political data, you will learn about printing methods and flaws, postal experiments, and other behind-the-scenes details. Many collectors are intrigued by these aspects of stamp booklet production.

Suppose you want to increase your knowledge of geography. Have you heard of Abkhazia, Herm Island, Karakalpakia, or Nagorno Karabakh? Where is Zimbabwe, and how did it come into existence? Stamp booklets can foster curiosity about the unfamiliar. When you examine booklets, your interest is piqued.

Stamp collectors also have the opportunity to benefit from their investment. The word investment is used here in the broadest sense: The rewards are not purely financial. In fact, you will probably not have a substantial financial gain, but that shouldn’t bother you. After all, when you take a vacation, you don’t expect to recoup the cost. You invest time and effort to enjoy yourself—you put your daily responsibilities aside, to relax, have fun, and immerse yourself in a different style of living for a short time. When you invest in stamp booklets, your experience is similar. The difference is that these booklets do have financial value and can be resold, sometimes at a profit.

Finally, your investment in time spent with your collection is spread throughout the year rather than concentrated in a two- or three-week period, as a vacation would be, and your joy is always available when you want it. In fact, through your stamps, in the blink of an eye, you can travel through space and time.

Links
Jeremy A. Lifsey: Stamp Booklets. Note that Lifsey’s book offers even more links.

Stamp Clubs

International Stamp News

American Philatelic Society

Beginner’s Guide to Stamp Collecting

Stamp Collecting Terms Dictionary

For Lifsey, no end is in sight. He knows his collecting goals cannot be realized in his lifetime, but that doesn’t stop him. After all, why would he want to quit, when he’s riding a magic carpet through space and time?