Philately Archives was created to preserve, document, and share the postal history found in private collections.
The project began with the acquisition of a large, carefully assembled French philatelic collection formed by Edward Harris who had spent many years studying cancellations, rates, varieties, and related historical themes. The material is now being digitised and organised so it can remain accessible to collectors and researchers.
The aim of this website is to present clear visual records of stamps, cancellations, and postal markings from different countries, starting with France. The presentation of the pages may also offer ideas or inspiration for collectors interested in how to arrange or display their own collections. Each section reflects the original collector’s structure when possible, with additional material added over time as the archive grows. The collection will continue to expand as new interesting material is found, and categories will be updated whenever I notice errors or discover new information.
Some pages may take longer to load on slower internet connections, as images are presented at high quality to preserve fine details important for the study of stamps and postal markings. Efforts will continue to be made to improve loading performance where possible without compromising image quality.
This website is a personal, non-commercial project maintained on my own. I have other responsibilities, so updates may take time, but I will continue developing the site as regularly as possible. The website’s layout, organisation, and descriptions are still a work in progress, and there is plenty of room for improvement. I will keep refining its structure and presentation over time.
I welcome suggestions, corrections, or information that can help improve the accuracy and quality of the archive. If you would like to get in touch, please use the Contact page.
Many images on this website contain written text. To make this material accessible to a wider audience, an automatic text extraction and translation tool is available for most images.
How to use it
- Click or tap an image to open it.
- In the image viewer, click Translate text (top-left corner).
- Choose your language (or keep Auto to use your browser language).
- Click Translate to display the translated text.
- Use Show original to return to the original extracted text.
Notes
- Image text is automatically extracted and may include historical spelling or formatting.
- Translations are provided for convenience and research support and may not be perfectly literal.
P.S. I also share stamp photos on Instagram and Twitter, including close-up images that highlight printing details, varieties, and interesting features. These pages are separate from the archive, but you are welcome to follow them if you enjoy seeing more philatelic material.