pounds. Indeed, the adaptability of this hobby is one of its chiefest
charms. The rich collector may make his choice amongst the most
expensive countries, whilst the man of moderate means will wisely
confine himself to equally interesting countries whose stamps have not
gone beyond the reach of the man who does not wish to make his hobby
an expensive one. The schoolboy may get together a very respectable
little collection by the judicious expenditure of small savings from
his pocket money, and the millionaire will find ample scope for his
surplus wealth in the fine range of varieties that gem the issues of
many of the oldest stamp-issuing countries, and which only the
fortunate few can hope to possess.

In all there are over three hundred countries from which to make a
selection. In the early days collectors took all countries, but as
country after country followed the lead of England in issuing adhesive
stamps for the prepayment of postage, and as series followed series of
new designs in each country, the task of covering the whole ground
became more and more hopeless, and collector after collector began
first to restrict his lines to continents, and then to groups or
countries, till now only the wealthy and leisured few attempt to make
a collection of the world's postal issues.

This necessary restriction of collecting to groups and individual
countries has led to specialism. The specialist concentrates his
attention upon the issues of a group or country, and he prosecutes the
study of the stamps of his chosen country with all the thoroughness of
the modern specialist. He unearths from forgotten State documents and
dusty files of official gazettes the official announcements
authorising each issue. He inquires into questions surrounding the
choice of designs, the why and wherefore of the chosen design, the