2009 Blackbook Price Guide to United States Stamps

A thorough and detailed stamp catalog. Listings for commemoratives, definitives and back of the book material. Copious illustrations for easy identification of all but the most detailed variations. The listings are supplemented by numerous reference articles on numerous aspects of collecting. This is a solid catalog and best of all it's portable.

The 2009 Official Blackbook Price Guide to United States Postage Stamps is good addition to the collector’s toolkit, especially as a portable reference. This paperback has complete listings of general issue stamps (commemoratives & definitives), airmail, postage due, special delivery and other back-of-the-book issues. Also included are listings for duck stamps, first day covers and mint sheets of stamps. These items are not always found in pocket-sized catalogs and make the Blackbook especially useful.

The Price Guide also has a number of useful informational sections covering such topics as:

• Stamp Market Review
• Identifying, Grading and Valuing Stamps
• The Duck Stamp Program
• First Day Covers
• Terminology
• How to Start Collecting
• Stamp Clubs
• Stamp Periodicals

Each of the general issue stamps and many of the other issues are illustrated in black and white, with a color insert of the 2008 releases. The stamps are classified according to the popular Scott’s numbering system.

Overall this is an excellent resource and would be a great gift to the beginning collector. The only drawback is that the black and white illustrations will obviously not offer much help in learning about and identifying colors. The paper used in the book is paperback quality and some of the images are somewhat indistinct. All this really means though is that another reference might be needed to make determinations between miniscule variations in a given issue. For basic identification, the Blackbook will do the job handily. Given the paperback pricing, this catalog is a welcome addition to the philatelist’s library.