View source for Alfred Potiquet

{{more citations needed|date=May 2014}}
[[file:Alfred Potiquet.jpg|thumb|Alfred Potiquet]]
'''François-Gabriel-Alfred Potiquet''' (4 December 1820 – 9 April 1883) was a French official who was responsible for the first [[stamp catalogue]] in the world.<ref>Alfred Potiquet, ''Catalogue des timbres-poste créés dans les divers états du globe, dressé par Alfred Potiquet.'' 2e édition. Paris: E. Lacroix, 1862.</ref> The 1861 first edition is held by the [[Royal Philatelic Society London]].<ref>[http://www.rpsl.org.uk/library.asp "The Library", The Royal Philatelic Society London.]</ref>

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 [[Mauritius "Post Office" |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]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=a5YDAAAAQAAJ&dq=A%20hand%20catalogue%20of%20postage%20stamps&pg=PR3 John Edward Gray, ''A Hand Catalogue of Postage Stamps for the use of the Collector.'' London, Robert Hardwicke (1862).]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Frederick Booty]], author of the first illustrated stamp catalogue in English.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{commons category-inline}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potiquet, Alfred}}
[[Category:19th-century French people]]
[[Category:French philatelists]]
[[Category:Philatelic literature]]
[[Category:1820 births]]
[[Category:1883 deaths]]