Richard Morel

Richard Morel
Position
Curator, Philatelic Collections
Specialism
Philately, postal history, paper money and security printing
Department
Collections
Related Offices
Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society, London

Since 2014, Richard has assisted with the Philatelic Collection’s front and back of house services and operations. He began his career at the Royal Household before being employed by the British Library in 2004 as a Curator for the Pre-1858 India Office Records.

Richard has lectured and presented in the United Kingdom, Germany, China and the United States on a wide variety of subjects including history, philately, paper money, sigillography and numismatics. His interests also cover postal-history, stamp design, cultural history, colonial history, the East India Company, Anglo-Chinese Relations, the history of collecting, visual-material culture and archival theory.

Richard is a prolific writer of articles for academic journals and magazines. In 2020, he was awarded the Tapling Medal for his article on the design of the India 1852 Half Anna Red ‘Scinde Dawk'. He has authored many blogs, particularly on the British Library's Untold Lives and Asian and African Studies blog sites.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London and a member of the American Philatelic Society and the International Banknote Society. He has served on the councils of the Royal Numismatic Society and the Royal Philatelic Society, London and was a member of the Royal Philatelic Society’s Library Committee.

Follow Richard on Twitter and Instagram.

Publications

Exhibitions

  • Postcards, Stamps & Covers from the First World War (April-June 2014)
  • Discworld Cinderella Stamp: A Tribute to Terry Pratchett (2015)
  • Fabric of Commerce & Power: An Exhibition of Banknotes from the Crown Agents Philatelic & Security Printing Archive (2016-present)
  • Selections from Siam: Philatelic & Postal History Selections from the Row Collection (2016-2017)
  • Stamps, Independence & Postcolonial Futures (2018-present)

Journal articles

  • Tanganyika’s 1961 Independence issue – Part II. The Bulletin of the East Africa Study Circle: Vol 24 (124): Jan 2020; 14-18.
  • The English settlement at Zhoushan c. 1700-1703: An important chapter in Anglo-Chinese and postal history. Asian Philatelist 2019: p13-36.
  • Tanganyika’s 1961 Independence issue – Part I. The Bulletin of the East Africa Study Circle: Vol 23 (124): Sept 2019; 70-77.
  • Design and development: Victor Whiteley’s designs for Uganda’s 1962 independence issue 2/-stamp. B.E.A. The Bulletin of the East Africa Study Circle. Vol 21 (122); May 2019; 48-52.
  • English Mercantile Correspondence from Japan c. 1603-1625. The London Philatelist: April 2019: Vol 128; 120-136.
  • Book review of “The Post Office in Ireland: An illustrated history”. The London Philatelist: Nov 2018: Vol 127 (1460); 453-454.
  • Research Resources for Perkins Bacon and Company Paper Money at the British Library. International Bank Note Society Journal: 57(1); 22-36.
  • Genealogy of an icon: Additional information on the design of the India 1852 Half Anna Red “Scinde Dawke”. The London Philatelist: June 2018; vol 127; 216-222.
  • Book review of “The Tudway Letters”. The London Philatelist: June 2018; vol 127;245.
  • Book review of “The Maritime Connections to and from New South Wales before 1876”. The London Philatelist: June 2018; vol 127; 244.
  • World paper money resources at the British Library: the crown agents’ philatelic and security printing archive. International Bank Note Society Journal; 55(4): 32-36.
  • Australian paper money in the British Library’s collections c. 1850-1930. International Bank Note Society Journal; 56(4): 13-21.
  • Words of Majesty: A Brief History of Royal Correspondence between England and Asia, 1600-1868. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society; June 2017; vol 90 (312): 1-27.
  • Book review of “Researching Ancestors in the East India Company’s Armies (FIBIS Research Guide no.1)” by Peter Bailey 2006. Families in British India Society Journal; Number 17 (Spring 2007).
  • Book review of “The Black Hole: Money, Myth and Empire” by Jan Dalley 2006. Families in British India Society Journal; Number 16 (Autumn 2006)

Magazine articles

  • The stamp art of Afewerk Tekle. Stamp Collector: 1(11); November 2019; 42-44 (with E. Derillo)
  • English Mercantile Correspondence from Japan c. 1603-1625. The Philatelist Magazine. Vol 23: June 2019; 40-54. Translated into Japanese.
  • Correspondence from Zhoushan Island. Stamp Collector: May 2019; 1(5); 66-67.
  • Revolutionary Currency. Coin Collector: Summer 2019; issue 4; 55-57.
  • Curator’s pick: Correspondence from the colonies. Stamp Collector: May 2019; 1(5); 27.
  • Indian paper money issues. Coin Collector. Spring 2019: issue 3; p54-55.
  • Curator’s pick: This way up. Stamp Collector. February 2019: 1(2); 27.
  • The colonial badge of Barbados. Stamp Collector: February 2019: 1(2); 52-53.
  • Curator’s pick: Beautiful Isabella. Stamp Collector. January 2019; 1(1); 26.
  • Victor Whiteley’s Tanganyika 1961 Independence. Stamp and Coin Mart. September 2018: 54-55.
  • Paper money by Perkins Bacon. Coin Collecting Magazine. Autumn/ Winter 2018; issue 2; 55-57.
  • Stamp designer extraordinaire: The life and stamp designs of Victor Whiteley (1922-2002). Stamp and Coin Mart. August 2018: 52-53.
  • Monuments for our endangered heritage on stamps. Stamp and Coin Mart Magazine. October 2017: 74-76.
  • Stamps of Siam. Stamp and Coin Mart Magazine. August 2017: 52-55.
  • The American Dream. Stamp and Coin Mart Magazine; July 2017: 60-62.
  • Top five USA migration stamps: Thematics. Stamp and Coin Mart Magazine website. Posted 9 June 2017.
  • Banknotes of note at the British Library. Stamp and Coin Mart Magazine; June 2016: 100-102 (with P. Skinner).
  • Historical Sources for Afghanistan in the British Library. South Asia Archive and Library Group Newsletter 2005; 26: 26-37. [Based on a paper delivered at the 74th Conference of SAALG, the Kashmir Bhawan Centre, Luton, 9 December 2005].