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R M Phillips Collection

  1. Volume I
  2. Volume II
  3. Volume III
  4. Volume IV
  5. Volume V
  6. Volume VI
  7. Volume VII
  8. Volume VIII
  9. Volume IX
  10. Volume X
  11. Volume XI
  12. Volume XII
  13. Volume XIII
  14. Volume XIV
  15. Volume XV
  16. Volume XVI
  17. Volume XVII
  18. Volume XVIII
  19. Volume XIX
  20. Volume XX
  21. Volume XXI
  22. Volume XXII
  23. Volume XXIII
  24. Volume XXIV
  25. Volume XXV
  26. Volume XXVI
  27. Volume XXVII
  28. Volume XXVIII
  29. Volume XXIX
  30. Volume XXX
  31. Volume XXXI
  32. Volume XXXII
  33. Volume XXXIII
  34. Volume XXXIV
  35. Volume XXXV
  36. Volume XXXVI
  37. Volume XXXVII
  38. Volume XXXVIII
  39. Volume XXXIX
  40. Volume XL
  41. Volume XLI
  42. Volume XLII
  43. Volume XLIII
  44. Volume XLIV
  45. Volume XLV
  46. Volume XLVI
  47. Volume XLVII
  48. Volume XLVIII

In 1965, Reginald M Phillips donated his award-winning collection of British Victorian stamps to the nation. The former National Postal Museum was in part established to house the collection. Today, The British Postal Museum & Archive has taken over responsibility for caring and developing access to the Phillips Collection.

The Phillips Collection is an essential resource for the understanding of postage stamps and philatelic research. It contains the world's very first, first day cover - that of the Penny Black. It also includes 1839 Treasury Essays for pre-paid postage, Rowland Hill letters and unique proofs and studies of stamps such as the Twopenny Blue and the Penny Red.

You can find out more about the story told by the collection in Highlights of the Phillips Collection.

Digitisation
The Penny Black Changed the World project in 2005-2006 - supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund - has allowed for all 45 volumes of the Phillips Collection to be digitised (pages that contain only text have not been digitised as the text is copied in the relevant catalogue entry).

An education pack and online resources have also been created for use in the Key Stage 2 History curriculum, supporting work on the Victorians.

 

 

How to use the Phillips Collection online

You can view the digitised albums by:

  • Clicking a link to a volume on the right of this page.
  • Searching the online catalogue. In the catalogue, enter a search term and enter POST 141 (the archive POST class for the Phillips Collection) into the finding number box. This will limit your search to the Phillips Collection. 
If you are new to philately, start with the Highlights of the Phillips Collection.

These instructions are also available as a PDF version with screenshots:
How to use the R M Phillips Collection online (PDF, 117.5 KB)


Please note: the images have been optimised for use with the Mozilla Firefox web browser, although Internet Explorer will also work perfectly well. Firefox offers a better zoom feature which enhances your enjoyment of the Phillips Collection (download Mozilla Firefox for FREE).

Even higher resolution images are available on the computers in our Search Room.

Using the volume list on this page
1. Click on a volume link to see a contents list for that volume (or go to Full list of volume titles).

2. Click on the 'page title' for the Phillips Collection page you require. Once the main image page appears, you can click on the image to open a full-sized version.

3. Once you have finished looking at the full-sized image, use the Back button to return to the main image page. You will also find a link to the catalogue entry for that Phillips Collection page.

4. To navigate around the volume you can use the numbered links at the top of each image page to jump forward a few pages, or return to the volume contents page using the 'breadcrumb' links in the grey bar at the top of every page.


Reproduction of images on this website
The images on this site are free to view and download for personal or educational use. They should not be reproduced in any books or publications, or used for any profit-making purpose. High-resolution images are available, subject to the usual BPMA reproduction policies and charges, please contact our Search Room on +44 (0)20 7239 2570.

Supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund