October is National Stamp Collecting Month!

Stamp Collecting for Beginners, 1898.

The United States Postal Service started this program in October 1981 as a way to increase awareness of the recreational benefits of stamp collecting to all age groups. As Postmaster General William F. Bolger said, “Collecting stamps is an important and worthwhile lifetime endeavor for millions of people, bringing generations together in a common joy of discovery, challenge, and accomplishment.” The United States Postal Service continues to promote National Stamp Collecting Month by issuing special pictorial stamps intended to stimulate public interest in the hobby. The themes for various years include American folk art, sea creatures, prehistoric animals, locomotives, streetcars, and space exploration, to name a few. The National Postal Museum Library has many related catalogs (images on the Libraries' flickr site).—Cassie Mancer, Paul McCutcheon & Mary Ann Wilson

Stamps worth finding; stamps you may have, why not look? A guide to the medium collector.
   Hardy, B. C., HE6203 .H26 1905
   Imprint: London, Appleton, 1905., Collection: National Postal Museum

Home-made devices for stamp collectors.
   HE6215 .H76 1927
   Imprint: Brooklyn, N.Y. : A.E. Anderson, 1927., Collection: National Postal Museum

Guide pratique de l'amateur de timbres-poste : comment on constitue à bon compte une belle collection dont on pourra tirer bénéfice / / Albert Laplanche.
   Laplanche, Albert., HE6215 .L314 1928
   Imprint: Paris : A. Michel, 1928., Collection: National Postal Museum

Stamp collecting for beginners.
   HE6215 .S78 1898
   Imprint: London : Hobbies ltd., [1898?], Collection: National Postal Museum

The Everyland stamp album for British and foreign postage stamps.
   HE6221 .E93
   Imprint: London : G.F. Rapkin, [between 1919 and 1928], Collection: National Postal Museum

The boys' own guide to stamp collecting / / by Fred. J. Melville.
   Melville, Frederick John, 1882-1940., HE6213 .M535 1924
   Imprint: London : Sefi, Pemberton, 1924., Collection: National Postal Museum

Interesting links:

A USPS education kit for National Stamp Collecting Month (including one for the Cloudscapes stamp issued in 2004)

A video of the unveiling of this year's stamp-collecting month sheet, the kelp forest (It was unveiled at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, underwater)