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34-553: The National , as it is known, was formed in 1899 by Fred Melville and the first meeting is believed to have been at a shop in Clapham, South London. Melville had applied for membership of the Philatelic Society, London , now The Royal Philatelic Society London , but was rejected as he was under 18 years of age. This led to him forming The Junior Philatelic Society (now The National Philatelic Society ) that same year. The society

68-457: A philatelic theme, The Lady Forger: an original play which was published by The Junior Philatelic Society . The play had its first performance in 1906 at the society's annual Concert-Conversazione at the Bijou Theatre , Archer Street, London. According to Brian Birch, Melville used the pseudonym Miss Fitte as a pun on misfit when writing about stamp errors. Outside philately, Melville

102-426: A result, he formed The Junior Philatelic Society (now The National Philatelic Society ) that same year. The society was a huge success, capitalising on pent-up demand for a philatelic society that anyone could join and the new society soon had to seek a larger meeting place. In 1906 Melville formed a Manchester branch of the society. Melville was President of the society from the start until his death and also edited

136-563: A result, stamps with badly cut margins or no margins are common and worth very little, while examples with four clear margins are rare and valuable and fetch very high prices, especially if in mint condition. An original printing press for the Penny Black, the "D" cylinder press invented by Jacob Perkins and patented in 1819, is on display at the British Library in London. The total print run

170-465: A separate sheet folded to form an enclosure for carrying letters. Hill was given a two-year contract to run the new system, and together with Henry Cole he announced a competition to design the stamps. Out of some 2,600 entries, none was considered suitable, however, so a rough design endorsed by Hill was chosen instead, featuring an easily recognisable profile of Queen Victoria . Hill believed this would be difficult to forge . The portrait of Victoria

204-457: A young boy of just 11 he took his father to an exhibition of stamps organised by the Philatelic Society, London , now The Royal Philatelic Society London at Arundel Street. At that exhibition he met Edward Denny Bacon who handed him a copy of the Society's journal, The London Philatelist . In 1899 he applied for membership of the Society, but was rejected as he was under 18 years of age. As

238-602: Is held by the British Postal Museum . This unique item is in fact a plate proof and by definition not an imprimatur sheet. The Penny Black was printed from 11 plates, but as Plate 1 was completely overhauled after excessive wear, it is generally considered to be two separate plates, 1a and 1b. Plate 11 was originally intended solely for the printing of red stamps, but a small number were printed in black. These are scarce. The stamps were printed in imperforate sheets, to be carefully cut with scissors for sale and use. As

272-649: The Congress Cup at the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1935, for his work The Lives of the Forgers and when the Postal History Society was founded in 1936, he was elected as the first President of the society. He appears in the 1938 Blue Book of Philately where his specialism is shown as philatelic literature and his address is given as 10a Ardberg Road, Herne Hill, London. Melville organised

306-527: The Illustrated London News and John O'London's Weekly . His second philatelic book was The A.B.C. of Stamp Collecting (1903), which received a highly complimentary review in Morley's Philatelic Journal where it was praised as being "remarkably free from [the] errors which are so often found in cheap guides to philately" despite having one fault in omitting telegraph and fiscal stamps. A new edition

340-619: The Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Penny Black The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system . It was first issued in the United Kingdom on 1 May 1840 but was not valid for use until 6 May. The stamp features a profile of Queen Victoria . In 1837, British postal rates were high, complex and anomalous. To simplify matters, Sir Rowland Hill proposed an adhesive stamp to indicate pre-payment of postage. At

374-635: The Imperial Stamp Exhibition of 1908, the War Stamps Exhibition in 1915 and the first international airpost exhibition, APEX, in 1934. He also edited the catalogues for the international philatelic exhibitions held in London in 1912 and 1923. In 1915 an exhibition titled War Stamps with Tango Teas was arranged by Melville at the Florence Restaurant in London. In addition to the stamp exhibition, an orchestra played daily and Melville

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408-450: The United Kingdom did not, continuing to accept payments for postage in cash for a period. The Penny Black lasted less than a year. A red cancellation was difficult to see on the black design, and the red ink was easy to remove; both made it possible to re-use cancelled stamps. In February 1841, the treasury switched to the Penny Red and began using black ink for cancellations instead, which

442-471: The age of two when his father, who was a journalist, became the House of Commons correspondent for The Scotsman . Fred had brothers Cecil Balfour, Thomas B. and William. He also had sisters Kate and Helen (later Mrs Helen P. Terry). Fred was educated at Westminster School where he was the instigator of a school magazine The United Westminster School Field Club Magazine . He was always known just as Fred. As

476-501: The detection and prevention of philatelic fakes, forgeries and spurious material and to give assistance in the prosecution of offenders. (e) To establish and maintain a permanent centre for philately." Today the society is still going strong, and continues to hold regular meetings and to publish its journal Stamp Lover , as it has since 1908. The society also has an extensive philatelic library. Fred Melville Frederick John Melville (25 February 1882 – 12 January 1940)

510-476: The double-letter rate (up to 1 oz or 28 g) was issued on 8 May 1840. Although the stamps were not officially issued for sale until 6 May 1840, some offices such as those in Bath sold the stamps unofficially before that date. There are covers postmarked 2 May, and a single example is known on cover dated 1 May 1840. All London post offices received official supplies of the new stamps but other offices throughout

544-412: The lower corner letters show the position of the stamp in the printed sheet, from "A A" at top left to "T L" at bottom right. The sheets, printed by Perkins Bacon , consisted of 240 stamps in 20 rows of 12 columns. One full sheet cost 240 pence or one pound ; one row of 12 stamps cost a shilling . As the name suggests, the stamp was printed in black ink. A two penny stamp printed in blue and covering

578-501: The monarch somewhere on the design. The first stamps did not need to show the issuing country, so no country name was included on them. The UK remains the only country in the world to omit its name on postage stamps; the monarch's image signifies the UK as the country of origin. Initially, Hill specified that the stamps should be 3/4 inch square but altered the dimensions to 3/4 inch wide by 7/8 inch tall (approx 19 x 22 mm) to accommodate

612-401: The new stamps. Four are known on covers; all were cut from their envelopes and then replaced. Most of the cancelled examples are from trials of cancellation types, inks, and experiments with their removal. Those trials led to the change from black to red stamps, and vice versa for the cancellations. Considered a British cultural icon, the Penny Black design featured in the innovations section of

646-446: The society (1997) states: "The Aims of the Society shall be: (a) To promote, encourage and contribute to the advancement of the practice of philately in all its branches. (b) To encourage and undertake the preparation and publication of books, catalogues, guides, journals and papers bearing on philately. (c) To provide facilities for the practice of philately and to assist and encourage young philatelists. (d) To encourage

680-496: The society's journal The Stamp Lover . Melville was never in good health and he did not serve in the military during World War One. Melville wrote over 100 books and his works are still some of the most common encountered in Philately. In 1897 he wrote and self-published an eight-page pamphlet called Stamp Collecting , priced at one penny. Fred was so embarrassed with the publication in later years that he bought up every copy that

714-411: The time it was normal for the recipient to pay postage on delivery, charged by the sheet and on distance travelled. By contrast, the Penny Black allowed letters of up to 1 ⁄ 2 ounce (14 grams) to be delivered at a flat rate of one penny, regardless of distance. On 13 February 1837, Sir Rowland Hill proposed to a government enquiry both the idea of a pre-paid stamp and a pre-paid envelope ,

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748-557: The top corners. Because the general public quickly accepted the postage stamps and ridiculed the Mulready stationery produced at the same time, vast supplies of Mulready letter sheets were given for official use to government departments such as the tax office, and the idea of introducing an official stamp was abandoned. Only a few postally used examples exist, which probably originate from the Post Office circulars sent out as advance notice of

782-403: The writing at the bottom. The word "POSTAGE" at the top of the design distinguishes it from a revenue stamp which had long been used in the UK; "ONE PENNY." at the bottom shows the amount pre-paid for postage of the stamped letter. The background to the portrait consists of finely engraved engine turnings . The two upper corners hold Maltese crosses with radiant solar discs at their centres;

816-456: The written permission of the Inland Revenue officials entered on the back of the sheet of stamps. In the 19th century, it was common for officials to remove some stamps from each sheet to present as gifts to dignitaries and other important people. Individual stamps from an Imprimatur sheet can thus be found for sale on the open market. A complete sheet of the Penny Black without check letters

850-475: Was 286,700 sheets, containing a total of 68,808,000 stamps. Many were saved, and in used condition they remain readily available to stamp collectors . The only known complete sheets of the Penny Black are owned by the British Postal Museum. In addition to the general issue of the Penny Black, a similar stamp intended for official mail was produced, with the letters "V" and "R" replacing the crosses in

884-623: Was a British philatelist , prolific philatelic author and founder of The Junior Philatelic Society . He was also a founder in 1907 of the Philatelic Literature Society . Melville is a member of the American Philatelic Society 's Hall of Fame and was a signatory to The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1921. Melville was born in Edinburgh in 1882 to Thomas J. Melville and Annie Melville but moved to London at

918-486: Was a huge success, capitalising on pent-up demand for a philatelic society that anyone could join and the new society soon had to seek a larger meeting place. In 1906 Melville formed a Manchester branch of the society. Branches were also formed at Brighton and Liverpool. The success of the J.P.S. in its early years has been attributed to the partnership between Melville as propagandist and writer, and Herbert "Johnny" Johnson as businessman and organiser. The Constitution of

952-596: Was editor of the Heartsease Library , Cosy Corner , Good Words and Sunday Magazine . Melville's skill as a journalist has been partly attributed to the training he received from the press baron Sir Alfred Harmsworth, later Lord Northcliffe , founder of The Daily Mirror and The Mail . Melville was active in many branches of philately. He was a member of the Fiscal Philatelic Society from 1911 and he served on many philatelic exhibition juries. He won

986-513: Was engraved by Charles Heath and his son Frederick, based on a sketch provided by Henry Corbould . Corbould's sketch was in turn based on the 1834 cameo -like head by William Wyon , which was used on a medal to commemorate the Queen's visit to the City of London in 1837. This portrait of Victoria remained on British stamps until her death in 1901. All British stamps still bear a portrait or silhouette of

1020-506: Was more effective and difficult to remove. However, people still re-used stamps by combining the uncancelled parts of two stamps to form an unused whole, so in 1864 as a further safeguard the top corner stars on the Penny Red were replaced by the lower corner check letters in reverse order. Imprimatur sheets are from among the first sheets of stamps printed from a finished printing plate. The actual imprimatur ('let it be printed') refers to

1054-608: Was not married and was survived by his sister Mrs Helen P. Terry (née Melville). In 1941 he was posthumously inducted into the APS Hall of Fame . After his death, Melville's extensive philatelic library was purchased by the United States Library of Congress but it was not delivered until 1947 due to the effects of World War Two. Today it is split between that library and the library of the National Postal Museum , part of

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1088-458: Was offered for sale, with the result that it is now a very scarce item. In 1899 he became the editor of the philatelic section of a small journal known as Hardman's Miscellany . Soon afterwards he launched his own magazine, Young Stamp Collector which ran for six issues before merging with Stamp Collectors' Fortnightly . Melville also contributed philatelic articles to The Daily Telegraph , Wide World Magazine , The Straits Times of Singapore ,

1122-540: Was published in 1922 as The New A.B.C. of Stamp Collecting . His 1908 book Postage Stamps worth Fortunes was translated into Swedish and Dutch and his last book, Modern Stamp Collecting , was published on 6 May 1940, the centenary of the issue of the Penny Black . Melville also edited the Postage Stamp (1909–1929), Stamp Collector's Fortnightly (1921–1939) and British Philatelist (1932–1939). He also wrote, still on

1156-690: Was reported as being "the only one who braved the intricacies of the Tango, the Boston, and the Maxixe ". Although principally an author and journalist, Melville did also deal in stamps and a full page advert appeared in Stamp Lover in June 1920 offering stamps for sale from the firm of Fred J. Melville Ltd. Melville died at age 57 on 12 January 1940. His funeral took place at Lambeth Cemetery, Tooting, London on 16 January. Fred

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