The Philatelic Literature Society (1907-1918) was a short-lived society to promote the cause of philatelic literature

Philatelic literature

Philatelic literature is written material relating to philately, primarily information about postage stamps and postal history- Background to philatelic literature :...

 among philatelists at a time when information about philately could be hard to obtain and philatelic books expensive.

Formation

The first meeting of the society was on 29 October 1907 at St.Bride's Institute in London and Edward Denny Bacon

Edward Denny Bacon

Sir Edward Denny Bacon was a British philatelist who helped the enlargement and mounting of collections possessed by rich collectors of his time and became the curator of the Royal Philatelic Collection between 1913 and 1938.- Early life :Edward Bacon was the son of a malt producer of London,...

, later a President of the Royal Philatelic Society London, was appointed it's first President. He remained in that post until 1914. The founding Vice-President was B.T.K. Smith, the Hon. Secretary and Treasurer was F.J. Peplow

F. J. Peplow

Frank Jukes Peplow was Borough Librarian at Deptford and a philatelist who won the Crawford Medal from the Royal Philatelic Society London in 1927 for his work The Postage Stamps of Buenos Aires. He signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1933.-Argentina and Japan:Peplow was an expert on...

 and the ordinary members were H. Clark, Johnny Johnson

Johnny Johnson (philatelist)

Herbert Frederick "Johnny" Johnson was British stamp dealer and philatelist who was a key figure in the early years of the Junior Philatelic Society and a close colleague of Fred Melville.- Organised philately :A larger-than-life figure, Johnny earned the nickname "the dynamo" for his energetic...

, Fred Melville

Fred Melville

Frederick John Melville was a British philatelist, prolific philatelic author and founder of The Junior Philatelic Society. He was also a founder in 1907 of the Philatelic Literature Society...

 and H.E. Weston

Herbert Edgar Weston

Herbert Edgar Weston , or H. Edgar Weston, was a stamp dealer in Stockwell, London, then Twickenham, who used the pseudonym Victor Marsh and who purchased Jean-Baptiste Moens' stock of philatelic literature after Moens retirement in about 1907...

.

Works

One of the most important works of the Society was a catalogue of the Crawford Library

Crawford Library

The Crawford Library is a library of early books about philately formed between 1898 and 1913 by James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford. By the time of his death in 1913, Crawford was thought to have amassed the greatest philatelic library of his time...

, written by Bacon, titled The Catalogue of the Philatelic Library of the Earl of Crawford, K.T., a work which won a Large Gold medal at the Postwertzeichen Ausstellung stamp exhibition in Vienna in 1911. A supplement to the catalogue was published in 1926 by the PLS and an addenda in the March 1938 edition of The London Philatelist

The London Philatelist

The London Philatelist was first published in January 1892 and is the journal of the Royal Philatelic Society London.It is published ten times annually and includes coverage of worldwide philatelic and postal history topics...

, both by Bacon.

Journal

A journal was published, titled simply the Journal of the Philatelic Literature Society.

Demise

The society was disbanded in 1918 and, despite attempts to revive it, was dissolved in 1929.

Further reading

• King-Farlow, Roland. Journal of the Philatelic Literature Society cumulative index. Volumes I-XI, 1908-1918. London: Royal Philatelic Society
  Royal Philatelic Society
  The Royal Philatelic Society London is the oldest philatelic society in the world. It was founded in 1869 as The Philatelic Society, London.- Royal connections :...
  
  , 1948.