Philately

At the British Library you can study stamps and postage material. We have millions of philatelic items covering every country and period. Our collection includes airmail envelopes, original artwork and printing plates.

Collection guides

Artwork for postage stamps
Original artwork prepared in the production of postage stamps
Chinese stamps
19th and 20th-century stamps from China
Revenue stamps
A wide range of stamps for collecting tax
Security printing
Examples of dies, plates, and presses for security printing of stamps
Pioneer airmails
Stamps, envelopes and souvenir postcards carried by early aeroplanes
Americas and Oceania philatelic material
Stamps and related philatelic items from a wide area

View all related guides

Philatelic Reading Room

To explore our philatelic materials, please contact our Philatelic Reading Room and make an appointment.

If you can, try to contact us at least 10 days before you intend to visit. We'll ensure our experts are available to help you.

You'll need a Reader Pass.

Email: philatelic@bl.uk

Tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7635

Blog posts

Monarchs enthroned: ceremonial iconography and coronations

Saturday, May 6, 2023

King Charles III’s coronation continues an extremely long-standing ceremonial tradition. The scale of coronations does vary from reign to reign, yet core elements such as the monarch’s selection, anointment with holy oil, public acclamation and enthronement remain unchanged. Records for...

The World According to Monty Wedd: Philatelic Comics, Cartoons and Caricatures

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Philatelic comics, cartoons and caricatures comprise an important research resource in assessing public response to postage stamp design. Published globally from the nineteenth century to the present era, examples of this genre are in the thousands. Significant cartoonists, writers and...

Gre-nay-dah, not Gra-naah-da. That’s in Spain.

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Suelin Low Chew Tung is an artist and writer and is based in Grenada; she was a 2020 British Library Eccles Visiting Fellow. My days as an Eccles Fellow at the British Library, from July to August 2022, were happily...

Black Women’s Activism in the Americas

Monday, August 8, 2022

The Eccles Centre recently hosted a one-day symposium on Black Women’s Activism in the Americas, in collaboration with the Society for the History of Women in the Americas (SHAW). The day included a Show and Tell for the delegates, inspired...