ANNOTATED PHILATELIC BIBLIOGRAPHY:
POSTAGE STAMPS of the SPANISH-PHILIPPINES
Introduction
This philatelic bibliography like many projects started small, with the accumulation of references associated with the 1890 series of the Spanish-Philippines, but then began to grow into something much bigger. Although there have been previous bibliographies that cover the Spanish-Philippines, they have generally been restricted to indexing a specific journal or have provided useful but limited bibliographic lists.
This bibliography aims only to cover postage and telegraph stamps from the Spanish-Philippine era. It does not exclude literature related to revenue stamps but has not specifically sought these out in a comprehensive manner.
There are many aspects of Spanish-Philippine philately, even perhaps those of established topics, that are deserving of further research. For some stamps the existing literature does not extend much beyond providing a catalogue of the issues along with basic details. This bibliography enables a researcher to identify past papers, to build upon or examine more closely the writings of the past, and perhaps even avoid pronouncing a ‘new discovery’ only to find that it had been discussed in a perhaps forgotten article decades ago. However, more value may come from the bibliography sparking an interest in a particular statement or observation allowing the enthusiast to delve into and expand upon with further research to truly come up with ‘new discoveries’ and understanding!
I have drawn inspiration from the early bibliographies but also from the work by Ernesto Cuesta and his annotated bibliography of Cuban philatelic literature. Indeed, I have enjoyed corresponding with and sharing literature discoveries with Ernesto as many of the early catalogues include both Cuba and the Philippines. Our geographical locations are also an advantage as despite the increase in the availability of online archives, many still require access to philatelic libraires such as the National Postal Museum Library in Washington and the British Library and the Royal Philatelic Society Library in London.
Annotations are provided for each reference to present a brief description or commentary on the contents of the article. Commonplace during the 19th century, magazines and journals would rely on reports, often repeating or referring to information provided in the various contemporary journals of that time. The annotations also provide cross-references to the borrowed accounts, as these are not always clearly referenced, nor the descriptions correctly transcribed, in the subsequent magazine. In the same fashion cross references are provided to later-day articles which have been updated or in some cases corrected. Occasionally, I have added personal comments to provide a critique or guide the reader to alternative discussions and opinions.
The internet has allowed many philatelic archives to be shared online. However, we also see an increasing amount of information and articles published on philatelic websites (and some very good ones exist on the Spanish-Philippines). These websites often contain personal research and summaries that are not available or published elsewhere in more traditional journals and magazines. Sadly, but perhaps naturally, many websites disappear, and the information is lost. To reflect the increase of the information shared on websites this bibliography includes references and notes relating to useful articles presented on these websites, providing a guide to the contents and to preserve content.
The bibliography also includes a list of auctions where an archive of the auction catalogue or images of individual lots are held. This is becoming more important as there is a trend towards holding auctions online and many no longer provide hardcopies or even electronic versions of the catalogue. Consideration is being given as to how best this information can be presented to aid research. Many of the earliest journals describe collections or auctions of Spanish-Philippine stamps; however, the descriptions are not illustrated and there is limited value in including these accounts in the bibliography and as a rule they have not documented except where for example a major collection is described or there have been sales of important items such as intact or reconstructed sheets of the 1854 issues.
The ”Annotated Philatelic Bibliography: Postage Stamps of the Spanish-Philippines” exists in four formats: an electronic book, a printed book, a digital database, and an internet version. As of January 2025, it contained over 2600 entries of articles that deal with Spanish-Philippine philately. The electronic book format (2025 edition) is freely available to download and can be printed if required to allow reading and annotation with personal research notes without the need of a computer. Alternatively, a printed version can be purchased at Annotated Philatelic Bibliography: Postage Stamps of the Spanish Philippine Islands by Palmer, Mike | Blurb Books UK The electronic book version, although continuously updated, will only be published periodically. The internet version is available for the benefit of Philippine philatelists. Citations provide links to pdf versions of copies of the individual articles where copyright or author permissions permit this. The internet version is continuously updated. Both the electronic and internet versions are made available free of charge for personal research use; however, I retain copyright to the bibliography, and reproduction of it as a whole or any of its parts (including the source documents) for resale in any form is not permitted.
The third format is a digital database. Within the database each entry is tagged according to subject. Currently there are approximately fifty subject topics utilised, and further subject topics can be added as research is conducted in a specific area. Currently this is primarily for my personal use and allows subsets of the bibliography to be provided and searches made within a particular subset.
Some final thoughts.
It is interesting to note how collecting interests change. Early writings suggest that there was great deal of fascination and interest in the stamps of the first issue of the Philippines (often referred to as Luzons) due to the hand engraving resulting in 40 different stamps on each sheet, and perhaps due to the infamous unflattering image of Queen Isabella II represented by this series. Despite references to plate studies and reconstructed sheets, there were many pleas for publications illustrating these. Although some images now exist of sheets most of these (except for the 10c carmine issue) are of low resolution or with details hidden by cancels.
The first collection worthy of note purchased by Stanley Gibbons Limited (the famous London stamp dealer) was a collection of the Philippines! It was purchased in 1891 for £550 [equivalent to approximately £58,500 in 2025] and contained complete reconstructed plates of the first issue – 5c, 10c, 1r and 2r. By the 1920s however, examples of reconstructed sheets and individual examples became scarce. Nestor Jacob writing in 1978 noted that information provided on the Philippines first issue is very limited and at times inaccurate which is often repeated without verification and notes that there were no published descriptions of the platings. This bibliography also has not identified any articles that provide a comprehensive description of the platings except that provided by Peter Harradine in the Appendix to his Postage Stamps of the Philippines Handbook published in 1987, although there are no accompanying illustrations and descriptions of all positions were not always possible. Jacob suggested that there were two distinct plates of the 5c and 10c issues; Harradine describes an original and a redrawn plate for each of the four values. There is still much to study for this world-famous issue.
In more recent years, interest has turned towards the stamps from the Era of Surcharges (1881 to 1889) which in the early years caused much frustration (and even annoyance) amongst the philatelic magazines, and those of the 1890 ‘babyhead’ series, helped by the publication of books and articles on these two periods. It is my observation that over the last 50 years the Philippine Philatelic Journal has provided the most prolific number of articles on stamps from the Spanish-Philippines, although over the past 20 years articles published privately on websites perhaps now rival those in journals. Both these sources perhaps ‘preach to the converted’ and writing for other societies and more general philatelic journals may indeed increase interest in the stamps of the Philippines from all periods.
Guide to understanding the citations
