Alfred Potiquet

Alfred Potiquet was a French official who was responsible for the first stamp catalogue in the world.[1] The 1861 first edition is held by the Royal Philatelic Society London.[2]

Alfred Potiquet

Alfred Potiquet developed his catalogue on the basis of the postage stamp and postal stationery register of the Strasbourg bookseller, Oscar Berger-Levrault. In fact, that register is referred to as the world's first stamp catalogue, although it was not intended for the public. Potiquet added a lot of stamp issues which had been overlooked by Oscar Berger-Levrault and corrected his errors.

His work was published in December 1861 in Paris under the title, "Catalogue des timbres-poste crées dans les divers états du globe". It already contained 1080 postage stamps and 132 postal stationeries. This much improved stamp catalogue was still not error-free. For example, there was no information about stamps which were still unknown at that time, such as the "Post Office" stamps of Mauritius.

Besides these stamp catalogues of Oscar Berger-Levrault and Alfred Potiquet, there was a similar work made in parallel in England by John Edward Gray.[3]

See also
  • Frederick Booty, author of the first illustrated stamp catalogue in English.

References
  1. Alfred Potiquet, Catalogue des timbres-poste créés dans les divers états du globe, dressé par Alfred Potiquet. 2e édition. Paris : E. Lacroix, 1862.
  2. "The Library", The Royal Philatelic Society London.
  3. John Edward Gray, A Hand Catalogue of Postage Stamps for the use of the Collector. London, Robert Hardwicke (1862).
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