What's in your Library?

I have a bit of a love affair going on with reference books. If I come across an old or outdated reference on a dealers table, whether I can use it or not at that time, I usually end up taking it home. I've made a point of trying to buy at least one new reference book each year. Sometimes that's just a case of updating something I already have with a newer edition but for the most part I try and make it something I don't already have. When it comes to buying stamps I'm a sucker for items that are oddball and not easily identified, whether that be the country that issued them or more often what their purpose was. I prefer to buy auction lots, collections and estates rather than a single or set of stamps and lots of times I find items within that fall into the hard to identify category as well. If I end up with enough similar items that I haven't been able to learn enough about online or through asking others then that usually helps to point me in the direction of my next purchase. Sometimes if I'm lucky enough, one of those oddball items that I've purchased even though it doesn't fit into my collections, will have enough value to cover my purchase cost and/or help to offset or pay for whatever reference book I bought. Even if it doesn't I get almost as much enjoyment out of books as the stamps.

I do have a decent amount of catalogs and reference books here, albeit an extremely mixed bag of countries/topics, that hopefully I'll be able to help with some identification/value questions down the road.

Rick

Rick, you have paraphrased my exact collecting interests and general philatelic purchasing tendencies!

I will post my philatelic refernce library list when time permits.  I have been making arrangements with a seasoned local collector for a somewhat extensive accumulation of literature which I will expound on when I pick it up!  --Jim

would you have forgery information on the 1852 Denmark Essays by Ferslow?
Thanks.

Some more great books.
I think this first one has been cited here before in our discussions on Confederate forgeries.
Both these came from a used book store in the Wicker Park area of Chicago, found on our last day there. FYI for any of you in the Chicago area, there are still some nice philatelic books available there! Myopic Books on Milwaukee Ave. Go up to the third floor, in the 'collections' area. I'd have bought more, but the wife and my budget were 'agin' me!

thanks Rod
For interests sake, the gentlemen pictured on the front of the Forgers book are, top to bottom, E. Stanley Gibbons, Jean de Sperati, Henry Heckler, George Jeffryes and Samuel C. Upham.