In celebration of its sesquicentennial year in 2019, the Royal Philatelic Society of London (RPSL) will publish a permanent and representative record of how and what its members collect.
Collections and collecting methods have changed dramatically from 19th-century albums with printed pages to the wide variety of subjects, including postal history, now collected and displayed with computer-set and handwritten pages. In an attempt to get a handle on the state of the hobby in the 21st century, the RPSL will print a full-colour book with each page featuring scans of completed sheets submitted by RPSL Fellows and members, all of whom are eligible to contribute and can submit as many pages as they wish.
Pages may be specially prepared or composed of an existing album page. Computer-set, typed and handwritten pages are all acceptable, and in any language; however, the society is unable to accept scans of covers or stamps that are not accompanied by a finished narrative on the same page.
According to the RPSL, all pages accepted will be “significant” in that they will be recognized as such by the contributor and readers: “Rarities, errors, proofs, essays and postal history of note meet the criteria, also inexpensive covers or philatelic items with a well-researched or interesting history or story.”
A standard header and footer will be added to show the title and country of the display page as well as the name and country of the contributor. Pages will be arranged alphabetically by contributors’ surnames in one or more volumes.
The cost is £70 (about $113 Cdn.) a page—payable when the pages are submitted—and there is no discount for multiple entries. All contributors will receive one copy of the volume in which their page(s) appear (but postage is extra if it is mailed).
HOW TO CONTRIBUTE
The RPSL is asking any interested members to send a digital copy of their chosen album page(s) to memberscollections2019@rpsl.org.uk or via a file transfer protocol service such as wetransfer.com.
In addition to providing full-colour scans, the RPSL is asking contributors to submit a “short meaningful title and country/subject of the display page, your name as you wish it to appear and your country of residence.” Any non-English titles will need an additional English translation. If a title uses a non-Roman character set such as Cyrillic or Chinese, it must be provided digitally.
The deadline for the submission of and payment for pages is Dec. 31. The society anticipates most submissions will be accepted.
“We are already accepting entries and invite you to participate as soon as possible.”
For more information, visit rpsl.org.uk/userfiles/Members-Collections-2019-Information.pdf or email memberscollections2019@rpsl.org.uk.