Home › Postage Stamp Collecting, or Philately › Postage Stamp Collecting, or Philately

Postage Stamp Collecting, or Philately

OUR young readers may vainly turn over the pages of any existing dictionary to find the scientific alias of the heading of this article. We trust the omission will be soon supplied, Philately, or Postage Stamp Collecting, having reached the dignity of a recognised science.

The word is the English rendering of the French term Philatelie, bestowed by a distinguished Parisian amateur in substitution for what was called timbromania, the latter portion of which word caused an unpleasant association of ideas, and gave rise to many a sneer from the wiseacres who had not sense enough to understand the real utility of the pastime. It is derived from the Greek ?? and ??, the nearest equivalent traceable in classical lore to a modern postage stamp.