Frederick Booty
Frederick William Booty(1841 – 13 October 1924)[1]was an English artist who was also the author of the first postagestamp cataloguein English,[2]and the first illustrated stamp catalogue anywhere.
Education
[edit]Booty was born inBrighton,Sussex, the son of Edward and Fanny Booty.[3]He later worked as an art professor in Yorkshire.[4]
Stamp catalogues
[edit]Booty'sAids to Stamp Collectors, being a list of British and Foreign Postage Stamps in Circulation since 1840 - by a Stamp Collector,was published in April 1862,[2]just weeks beforeMount Brownissued his more successful work, and when Booty was in his early twenties.[5]The catalogue was partly based on earlier works produced in Belgium and France.[1]
Later in 1862, Booty was also the first to issue an illustrated catalogue, titledThe Stamp Collector’s Guide; being a list of English and Foreign Postage Stamps, with 200 fac-simile drawings.This edition listed 1100 stamps[5]and Booty drew all of the illustrations himself.[6]He reportedly used half a million stamps to compile the catalogue.[7]
Booty also contributed to theMonthly Advertiser,published by Edward Moore & Co., in 1862.
These catalogues appear to have been a business venture, capitalising on Booty's artistic skills, as there is no evidence that Booty was aphilatelist.
Art
[edit]Booty's watercolour landscape pictures are still regularly featured in art auctions in Britain. Although originally based in Brighton, his later work is mainly of scenes fromYorkshire,includingHulland the ports ofScarboroughandWhitby.Harbour scenes were a popular subject with Booty. He also painted Yorkshire panoramas and the peacocks atHaddon Hall,Derbyshire.[8]
See also
[edit]- Alfred PotiquetAuthor of the world's first illustrated stamp catalogue published 1861.
Publications
[edit]- Aids to Stamp Collectors, being a list of British and Foreign Postage Stamps in Circulation since 1840 - by a Stamp Collector.1st edition, H.& C. Treacher, Brighton, April 1862. (2nd edition 1862)
- The Stamp Collector’s Guide; being a list of English and Foreign Postage Stamps, with 200 fac-simile drawings.1st edition, H. & C. Treacher, Brighton, & Hamilton, Adams & Co., London, 1862.
References
[edit]- ^abSchofield, Brian.Who Was Who in British Philately.London:British Philatelic Trust,2003, p.10.ISBN1-871777-14-3Online version hereArchived2011-07-13 at theWayback Machine
- ^ab"Evolution of the Postage Stamp: Exhibition at Brighton" inThe Times,9 January 1920, p.8.
- ^England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
- ^1881 England Census
- ^abThe Stamp Lover,Vol.1, No.1, June 1908, pp.5.
- ^Birch, Brian.Biographies of Philatelists and Dealers.9th edition. Standish, Wigan: 2008, p.238.
- ^Morgan, Helen.Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World's Most Valuable Stamps.London: Atlantic Books, 2006, p.33.ISBN1-84354-435-0.
- ^Art auction results for Frederick Booty. Retrieved 23 March 2010.Archived at WebCite here.
Further reading
[edit]- "The Frederick Booty bibliography" inThe Stamp Lover,1909.
