Nassau Street: A Quarter Century of Stamp Dealing by Herman Herst

Another of Herst's books is called Still More Stories To Collect Stamps By. And there is no better philatelic storyteller than Herst. Nassau Street is a collection of his stamp writings from his newsletter Herst's Outbursts (which you should pick up if you find copies at attractive prices) and his other philatelic journalism. It is one of the most pleasurable philatelic history lessons you'll ever find. Every true stamp collector should have at least one Herman Herst book in their philatelic library. Nassau Street is as good as any.

Recommended for the beginning and intermediate collector for rare insights into the stamp collecting world. Learn how stamp dealers think -- Herst knew them all and dishes the dirt -- with this fine and essential history of the growth of the hobby during its golden years, the 1930s through the 1940s.

Nassau Street was the legendary N.Y. City thoroughfare, just a hop from Wall Street, that many stamp dealers gravitated to. Once there they set up their philatelic businesses, Herst being one of them. He tells his personal story, from the days of his youth working as a messenger boy on Wall Street, to opening his own stamp dealership in 1935.

Though across-the-counter stamp dealing has become almost a quaint anachronism in these Internet days, there is much in Herst's book to entertain and inform, as it illuminates the dealer-collector relationship. And while the financial markets may rise and fall precipitously, the stamp trade soldiers on, much as it did in Herst's day. His basic advice, some of the best about collecting you'll ever get, is very seldom dated. This book remains a valuable source for collectors, even fifty years after its first publication.