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

The Philatelic Reading Room in the British Library

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...

More blog posts

Related events

Exhibition FREE

The Philatelic Exhibition

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Discover some of the rarest and most significant stamps from one of the world's greatest collections

View all events

Library experts

Paul Skinner

Lead Curator, Philatelic Collections

Richard Morel

Curator, Philatelic Collections

External links

The British Library is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

British Library Philatelic Collections

A Wikipedia category list of all our collections

Royal Philatelic Society, London

The oldest philatelic society in the world